What ProAdvisors are Saying about QuickBooks Live

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Over the past week WoodardTM conducted three town hall meetings with accounting professionals about 'QuickBooks Live' – Intuit’s proposed bookkeeping offering attached to QuickBooks Online.

As I monitored the social traffic around QuickBooks Live, I saw an increasing amount of FUD (Silicon Valley speak for “Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt”). As a result of this FUD I took two actions:

  1. I published an article in Insightful Accountant to provide my thoughts on the program as well as some recommendations on the how accountants should respond.
  2. I scheduled three town hall meetings marketed specifically to ProAdvisors to give them the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback.

We scheduled these town hall meetings without any collaboration with or direction from Intuit, but when Intuit learned of the meetings they asked if they could join us. We were excited for Intuit to participate, as this was the best way for ProAdvisors to: 1) Be heard, and 2) Get the most current and accurate information about QuickBooks Live.

Intuit was represented during the event by Rich Preece, Senior Vice President and U.S. Country Manager, QuickBooks at Intuit, with assistance from Kim Amsbaugh, Senior Manager, Global Communications, Intuit.

This article summarizes the feedback from the town hall meetings, Intuit’s statements about QuickBooks and Intuit’s answers to the most commonly asked questions across all three town hall meetings.

About the Town Hall Participants

They Are Primarily ProAdvisors: 94% are ProAdvisor Program members. 84% are certified on QuickBooks Desktop and/or QuickBooks Online

They Are Primarily Performing Bookkeeping: 95% Offer Bookkeeping Services. 58% Offer Bookkeeping Services as their Sole or Primary Practice Model

They Focus Heavily on Smaller Companies: 85% Service Smaller Companies that Spend Less than $6,000/year (or an average of $500/month) on professional bookkeeping services.

Intuit’s Answer to the Question “What is QuickBooks Live?”

We kicked off each town hall meeting with a question for Rich Preece – the question every ProAdvisor wanted to ask of Intuit – “What is QuickBooks Live?”

Rich’s Response to the Question “What is QuickBooks Live?”

Author's Comment: I adapted Rich’s spoken comments for written editorial, modifying some of the wording and sentence structure for readability. I took every good faith effort to ensure I am accurately reflecting the content of Rich’s response.

QuickBooks live is a test – a test Intuit launched on February 4 (2019).

The premise of the test is based on customer feedback. When a small business subscribes to QuickBooks Online, Intuit asks if the subscriber is currently supported by an accounting professional. If the small business is not connected to an accountant, Intuit provides a link to the Find-a-ProAdvisor website. Today, 60% of QuickBooks users are currently supported by an accounting professional.

For the other 40%, Intuit asks why they are not connected to an accounting professional. Many small businesses respond that, even though they may need some questions answered and/or some setup support, they are not ready to directly engage an accounting professional.

This customer need – and Intuit’s desire to connect professional bookkeepers to this need – drove the innovation and the recent test called “QuickBooks Live.”

An Important Clarification from Rich about QuickBooks Live

Per Rich Preece, QuickBooks Live is not an attempt by Intuit to provide or supply bookkeeping with Intuit employees. Also, it is not an attempt by Intuit to set pricing around bookkeeping services in a way that negatively impacts professional bookkeepers.

This is Intuit recognizing that small businesses have a need for support but, because they are not prepared to engage a professional bookkeeper, require a different, lighter touch way to address that need. In concert, this is Intuit’s way to engage ProAdvisors – to bridge the talent pool of the professional bookkeeping community to this underserved small business demographic.

QuickBooks Live is an offering where Intuit is connecting demand to supply. Intuit has confirmed the demand by small businesses. Intuit seeks professional bookkeepers to be the supply side of this economic equation. As such, Intuit fully understands that this program will not work without the participation of the professional bookkeeping community.

Asked and Answered

During the three town hall events, we collected thousands of questions about QuickBooks Live. Some of the more commonly asked questions are below, with the responses from Rich Preece.

Author's Comment: I adapted Rich’s spoken comments for written editorial, modifying some of the wording and sentence structure for readability. I took every good faith effort to ensure I am accurately reflecting the content of Rich’s response.

If you were unable to attend the town hall meetings or you attended but didn’t get an answer to your question, we encourage you to use Intuit’s Google form. The form allows you to ask questions, provide feedback and/or express your interest in participating in QuickBooks Live.

A Contextual Statement by Rich Going into the Q&A Segment of the Town Hall

Since QuickBooks Live is not yet fully launched and with several tests over the next several months taking place prior to its launch, some aspects of the program are still in development, including pricing models for QuickBooks users and compensation models for professional bookkeepers who support them. Intuit’s ability to fully answer questions is limited to what is known about the program at this time.

Question 1: How Do I Participate in the Program and When Does Enrollment Begin?

Intuit’s Answer: Intuit has not determined the exact timetable for program launch or professional bookkeeper enrollment.

When the time comes for enrollment, Intuit will invite ProAdvisor Program members to participate.

When Intuit is ready for professional accountants to participate, they will communicate with the professional bookkeeper community through email and within QuickBooks Online Accountant (what Intuit refers to internally as “In-Product Discovery”).

Question 2: Is the Pricing Model Finalized for QuickBooks Live?

Intuit’s Answer: No. The pricing published on the QuickBooks website was a pricing test to determine market response. The purpose of the test was to measure the number of people who clicked “Buy Now.”

There will be much more testing around the offering, including discovering the price to value ratio for QuickBooks Live. Only then will Intuit have enough information to set a price.

Question 3:  What are the Specific Qualifications Required for Professionals to Participate

Intuit’s Answer: The qualifications are to be determined.

Intuit is working with a council of accounting professionals for guidance on QuickBooks Live, including the qualifications required to participate. Intuit will also consider feedback provided through the Google form in setting qualifications.

Question 4: How Does QuickBooks Live Compare to TurboTax Live?

Intuit’s Answer: This program is very similar to TurboTax Live, especially in the way it addresses the user’s need for help from a professional. 

Though TurboTax is designed for do-it-yourself income tax return preparation, some users of TurboTax have questions during the tax return preparation process. These users do not desire to engage a professional tax preparer, but they do have occasional questions. Based on that need by TurboTax customers, Intuit launched Turbo Tax Live, engaging CPAs to assist its TurboTax customers.

Intuit launched this offering two years ago, and there are currently thousands of tax professionals supporting TurboTax users on the platform.

90% of the accounting professionals who participated in the first year of TurboTax Live returned to participate in year two, which speaks to the viability of Intuit’s compensation model for the participating professionals.

QuickBooks Live will have a similar nature as TurboTax Live and will leverage similar technology.

Question 5: Why Didn’t Intuit Directly Communicate QuickBooks Live to its ProAdvisor Community before Going Public with the Test?

Intuit’s Answer: Typically, Intuit doesn’t communicate the testing of new concepts or product ideas, even if the test has some level of public exposure. The normal sequence is to run the test, evaluate the results and then decide the appropriate level of communication.

Rich stated that he regrets not communicating Intuit’s test to accounting professionals, especially ProAdvisor program members – in advance of running the test. The feedback on social media, including anxiety on the part of some accounting professionals, is deeply troubling to Intuit. That response was one of the reasons Rich sought to participate in our town hall meetings. Rich reinforced that QuickBooks Live is designed as a way for accounting professionals to extend their partnership with Intuit, not a way for Intuit to compete with accounting professionals.

Question 6: Is Find-a-ProAdvisor Going Away and if Not, How Does Find-a-ProAdvisor Relate to QuickBooks Live

Intuit’s Answer: Find-a-ProAdvisor is certainly not going away. In fact, Intuit is leaning into the Find-a-ProAdvisor platform very strongly. Find-a-ProAdvisor is the world’s largest platform for connecting professionals to small businesses, engaging over one million small businesses over the past year alone.

As for the relationship between Find-a-ProAdvisor and QuickBooks Live, Intuit directs its users to Find-a-ProAdvisor if they are not currently connected to an accounting professional. Intuit prefers its small business customers to be supported by an accounting professional because 89% of small businesses say they are more successful when they do so.

QuickBooks Live is Intuit’s option for users who say they are not yet ready to engage an accounting professional. Then, over time, Intuit expects many of those who use QuickBooks Live to graduate to a direct relationship with an accounting professional. When that times comes, Intuit will direct them to the Find-a-ProAdvisor site.

Question 7: How Will Intuit Protect the Existing Relationships I Have with My Clients?

Intuit’s Answer: Intuit will not proactively market this service to any business where there is a known relationship between that business and any accounting professional.

That said, Intuit recognizes there are challenges in segregating businesses who have and who do not have a direct accountant relationship. This is especially difficult with marketing efforts.

However, Intuit is regarding the relationship between an accountant and a small business with the utmost respect and will work alongside the accounting community to discover the best way to protect professional accountants.

Question 8: Do Professional Bookkeepers Participating in QuickBooks Live Build Relationships with Specific QuickBooks Users?

Intuit’s Answer: No. When a user asks a question, the question goes to a large pool of professional bookkeepers, where the platform selects the professional who will support the user to resolve their issue and/or answer their question. Sometimes the support case takes a few minutes. Sometimes it could take 30 minutes or more. But, once the session ends, it is highly unlikely the same user will get connected to the same professional for subsequent sessions.

Question 9: Is Intuit Concerned about this Service Generating Price Anchors for the Bookkeeping Profession?

Intuit’s Answer: The parameters of QuickBooks Live will be tailored specifically for those users who are not ready to engage a professional bookkeeper and will therefore have a very specific scope and nature. Intuit believes the larger market will understand the distinction between the narrow scope of QuickBooks Live and the wider scope – and higher value – of professional bookkeeping support. Intuit further believes the small business market will expect higher price points when they engage professional accountants directly.

Question 10: Is Intuit Prepared to Speak to the Specific Services Offered in the Program.

Intuit's Answer: No, but Intuit can say that this service is not full, outsourced bookkeeping and it is a very basic bookkeeping offering.

Intuit recognizes that there is a gray area between “basic” and “fully outsourced” bookkeeping. To address this gray area, Intuit is hiring a handful of professional bookkeepers in the Boise, Idaho area – to report to Intuit’s TSheets office – to manage a very limited pre-launch control group of QuickBooks Live users. Intuit expects to get learnings from this control group over the next several months that will address the specific scope and nature of the services offered through QuickBooks Live. But, regardless of the learnings Intuit receives, it is not Intuit’s intention to offer full, outsourced bookkeeping services like those offered by the professional accounting community.

Question 11: Is QuickBooks Live to be Offered to QuickBooks Desktop Users?

Intuit's Answer: There are currently no plans to extend this offering to QuickBooks Desktop users. That could change over time, but it is not currently in Intuit’s plan to offer this service beyond QuickBooks Online.

Though QuickBooks Desktop is not included in QuickBooks Live, Intuit reinforced its ongoing support of both QuickBooks Desktop users and the professionals who support them in their use of that product.

The ProAdvisor Response

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Poll 1: About the Impact of QuickBooks Live on My Practice…

About 50% of participants are concerned – at some level – about a negative impact on their practices. And, 26% anticipate a positive impact. It will be interesting to revisit this question about a year after the launch of QuickBooks Live to ask about the actual impact on their practices.

Poll 2: About the Future Impact of QuickBooks Live on Intuit's Relationship with the Accounting Profession I See…

This question is certainly subjective in nature – and we alluded to that during the meeting, but it does provide an interesting pulse for Intuit on the accounting profession, especially where it relates to Intuit’s public relations efforts.

Not surprisingly, the findings here mirror the results of Poll 1 above, with about 50% expressing some level of negative impact, and 30% expressing a positive impact.

Poll 3: Given What I Learned from Intuit During this Town Hall Meeting…

This poll is designed to measure the specific impact of the town hall meeting on the opinion of the attendees – meaning what they now think after hearing directly from Intuit and what they now think after hearing what, specifically, Intuit had to say about QuickBooks Live.

Here, again, we see a 50/50 split. About 50% had their opinion influenced by their participation and about 50% did not. Similarly, about 50% are now (or remain) excited about QuickBooks Live and about 50% are now (or remain) in disagreement with Intuit launching the offering.

Note that 37% were positively influenced as compared to 10% who were negatively influenced. So, overall it was a very good move for Intuit to be involved in the town hall meetings.

Final Thoughts

The sky is not falling. But…there are things falling from the sky.

There is a significant change taking place within the bookkeeping space, and QuickBooks Live is not the only indicator of that change. Numerous players are hyper-leveraging technology innovations/disruptions like data parsing, process automation, and even artificial intelligence to create low cost, highly scaled bookkeeping models. Some of these services offer partnership opportunities for accounting professionals (like Intuit with QuickBooks Live). Others primarily support accounting professionals with outsourcing models like XCM and Botkeeper. Some, like Bench and Belay directly compete with professional bookkeepers.

Regardless of whether there is a current partnership or competition play with these scaled models, to respond to the larger landscape shifts professional bookkeepers should move up and beyond – a guideline presented by Ben Ross, co-host of The Transformation Advisor Podcast and developer of MyAdvisor.ai.

  •  “Moving up” refers to taking on larger businesses with more complex back office needs – the types of businesses that scaled bookkeeping models like Bench don’t target
  • “Moving beyond” refers to work outside the back office (“boardroom work”) where you provide financial, operational and/or technological advisory services, becoming what we at WoodardTM call “The Transformative Advisor.”

It seems the participants in our town hall meeting agree. Over 80% of those polled said they are focusing heavily on advisory services as a result of the landscape changes taking place with small business bookkeeping.

Do you feel this same sense of urgency to embrace advisory services?  Start your journey today – for free – at TheTransformativeAdvisor.com.

Intuit® is the registered tradename of Intuit, Inc. headquartered in Mountain View, California.