Intuit has shared the latest on QuickBooks Live, and we were asked to share it with you. We are publishing their press release (below) as it was presented to us, you can also read about it here at Intuit's Firm of the Future blog.
QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping Update: September 2019
QuickBooks® Live Bookkeeping (QuickBooks Live) is a monthly subscription service intended to fill gaps for small businesses and self-employed that aren’t currently connected to ProAdvisors® and accounting professionals. Many who use QuickBooks Online are connected to ProAdvisors through our Find-a-ProAdvisor platform, but our research shows that 40 percent of small businesses don’t currently work with ProAdvisors or bookkeepers. That said, 89 percent of small businesses say they’re more successful when working with accountants. That’s where QuickBooks Live enters the equation.
For ProAdvisors and bookkeepers, QuickBooks Live provides an opportunity to earn extra money, plus offers the flexibility of remote work and setting your own hours—all while elevating the value of human-powered financial management. This is the next step in Intuit’s continued effort to partner small businesses and self-employed with ProAdvisors and bookkeepers.
Over the next few months, we’ll continue conducting a variety of tests focused on tailoring QuickBooks Live for small businesses, and qualified bookkeepers and ProAdvisors. Let’s get into the latest updates and tests we are running for this service.
Tiered pricing tests
Over the last several months, our QuickBooks Live experts have worked with a variety of small businesses. As we’ve listened and watched the experts engage with small businesses, we’ve learned the small businesses have a range of needs and requests and varying complexities based on the size and type of their business.
As a result, on September 11, we will start testing a tiered pricing structure for QuickBooks Live with different price points and different levels of service provided based on a small business’s annual expenses. You will see these changes reflected on QuickBooks.com and the QuickBooks Live web page. We also will be using email and in-product notifications to test this new tiered pricing structure. Here’s a breakdown of the tiered pricing tests that will be available for QuickBooks Online customers to purchase over the next month:
Source: Intuit
QuickBooks_Live_Sept-2019-update_Pricing-table
Our goal is to offer QuickBooks Live to small businesses who aren’t currently connected to a ProAdvisor, bookkeeper, or accountant. The only way we can determine if a small business is connected to an accounting professional is if that small business’s QBO file is linked to a QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) account. If a small business’s QBO file is linked to a QBOA account, we hide in-product messages and information about QuickBooks Live from them.
We also are looking at “dry testing” other services and price points later in September. As a reminder, a dry test is a test that only gauges interest in a solution and is not available for purchase.
What’s next
We will continue to test different price points and service offerings of QuickBooks Live and on-demand bookkeeping help. This may include a one-time service at a set price for a specific amount of time. We also continue to learn from small businesses using QuickBooks Live about how best to define what is included in the service.
Interested in working on QuickBooks Live?
We are looking for people interested in becoming a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper. For ProAdvisors and bookkeepers, QuickBooks Live provides a new opportunity to earn extra money, plus offers the flexibility of remote work and setting your own hours — all while elevating the value of human-powered financial management. This is the next step in Intuit’s continued effort to partner small businesses and self-employed with ProAdvisors and bookkeepers. We have created an easy way for you to provide your information here.
In addition to being QuickBooks Online Certified, additional requirements include ONE of the following:
- an active CPA credential (Certified Public Accountant) OR
- an active CPB credential (Certified Public Bookkeeper) OR
- 3+ years of recent experience managing the books for a Small Business Clients
- received a 4-year business degree in Accounting/Finance
AND
- a minimum of one-year’s experience working with QuickBooks Online
Summary of previous QuickBooks Live updates
Here’s a summary of our previous updates and links to our previous blog articles over the last several months.
August 2019 update. On August 14, we shared that the QuickBooks Live team launched a QuickBooks Live web page, which includes videos that use real QuickBooks Live customers interacting with a bookkeeper and highlights the QuickBooks Live service. We also let you know that information about QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping now appears in the Help function inside QuickBooks Online when a small businesses uses Help to solve a problem or get an answer to a question. You can read our August 14 update here.
June 2019 updates. During June, we shared two updates.
- On June 25, we shared qualifications and details about how to apply to potentially become a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper. You can read more about that here.
- On June 3, we shared that QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping would be available for purchase on QuickBooks.com. You can read more about QuickBooks Live availability starting June 3 here.
May 2019 update. On May 16, we shared that being a certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor is a requirement to be a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper on the platform. We also shared in advance information about an in-product price test that was occurring at the end of the month. The May update post is here.
April 2019 update. In April, we continued to test pricing models and gauge small business interest for the service with QBO in-product promotions. We also brought more small businesses into the pilot, who continue to be helped by the small group of ProAdvisors working with them in our Boise, ID office. You can read more about April’s update here.
March 2019 update. In March, we connected small businesses who’d previously expressed interest in QuickBooks Live with our team of ProAdvisors currently working out of Boise, ID. We continue to learn and listen to how and when small businesses engage with these ProAdvisors, the questions they’re asking, and the kind of help they need. Read more about March’s update here.
Frequently Asked Questions
We still have many unanswered questions as we continue researching and testing QuickBooks Live:
- When will you finalize the cost of the service?
- How much will ProAdvisors/bookkeepers be paid?
- What’s the basic scope of services offered through QuickBooks Live?
- What happens when a small business outgrows QuickBooks Live’s services?
In the meantime, here are some FAQs we’ll continue updating as we learn from tests over the next several months.
What’s included in the QuickBooks Live service?
Pending additional testing, the service will include setup, monthly categorization, reconciliation, reports, end-of-year book-closing, and help using QuickBooks.
How much will QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping cost?
QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping is currently available for purchase at various price points: $200, $400 and $600 a month plus the cost of a QuickBooks Online subscription. We continue to test different pricing structures and models. We will finalize the cost structure in the coming months after we finish our pricing tests.
Will you continue offering Find-a-ProAdvisor?
Yes, we’ll continue investing in and offering Find-a-ProAdvisor. We have a dedicated team working every day on making Find-a-ProAdvisor better for ProAdvisors, driving even more connections to small businesses through our platform.
Will QuickBooks Live be offered to folks who already have accountants?
Our goal is to offer QuickBooks Live to small businesses who aren’t currently connected to a ProAdvisor, bookkeeper, or accountant. The only way we can determine if a small business is connected to an accounting professional is if that small business’s QBO file is linked to a QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA) account. If a small business’s QBO file is linked to a QBOA account, we hide in-product messages and information about QuickBooks Live from them.
What are the qualifications as an accounting professional to provide services to small businesses on QuickBooks Live?
Have one of the following:
- an active CPA credential (Certified Public Accountant) OR
- an active CPB credential (Certified Public Bookkeeper) OR
- 3+ years of recent experience managing the books for a Small Business Clients
- received a 4-year business degree in Accounting/Finance
AND
- a minimum of one-year’s experience working with QuickBooks Online
- An active QuickBooks Online certification
When QuickBooks Live goes live, how can I participate?
If you are interested in participating in the program, please see this page for more information.
Can I give feedback on QuickBooks Live?
Absolutely! We value your input very much. Please take a moment to share your thoughts.
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