Intuit's QuickBooks 2002 Is 'Right for Your Business'; Software Leader Introduces Premier Products For Small Businesses and Accountants

Business Wire, Nov 27, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2001

Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU), the leader in small business accounting software, today announced its new QuickBooks(R) 2002 family of products, including QuickBooks Basic, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Premier: Accountant Edition. Delivering on its "Right for My Business" strategy designed to meet the more complex accounting needs of small businesses and offer industry-specific solutions, the company is introducing QuickBooks Premier 2002 for small business owners and QuickBooks Premier: Accountant Edition 2002 for accountants who work with small business owners. In addition, through the QuickBooks Solutions Marketplace Web site, QuickBooks users can purchase third-party applications that work with QuickBooks Premier 2002 or Pro 2002 products to meet vertical or business-specific needs.

"We maintain an ongoing dialogue with our QuickBooks customers. Their feedback is a valuable tool which aids us in the development of products that help them achieve success," said Dan Levin, vice president and general manager, QuickBooks Management Solutions. "The QuickBooks 2002 products that we are announcing today represent our most robust solutions to date, built to meet the diverse needs of customers and with features that make our products right for their businesses."

With advanced accounting functionality and a host of integrated services, QuickBooks Premier products will help business users increase productivity and more effectively manage their money. Designed for businesses with more complex accounting needs than traditional QuickBooks users, QuickBooks Premier combines the core accounting features and functionality of QuickBooks, with optional remote access capabilities, easier reconciliation reporting, and more general journal functionality.

Helping Small Businesses Get Paid Faster

Cash management is one of the greater challenges for small businesses; getting paid on time is critical. QuickBooks 2002 offers customers powerful new services and features to help small businesses with this challenge. QuickBooks Credit Check Services, powered by D&B (NYSE:DNB), the leading provider of global business information and technology solutions, is a compelling new suite of optional services enabling access to credit information within the small business owner's workflow. With 61 percent of QuickBooks users extending credit to their customers(1), these services are designed to help small business owners make proactive and informed business decisions about extending credit. D&B credit information within QuickBooks shows the level of credit risk posed by prospective and current commercial customers and is easily accessible. Within their QuickBooks 2002 software, small business owners also have easy access to D&B marketing and collection services including the ability to provide payment reporting to D&B.

With QuickBooks 2002, optional online billing is enhanced to support credit card payments, in addition to Internet-based payments. And customers now have the ability to apply one payment to multiple invoices across different jobs.

New Data Integration With Other Applications

New this year, QuickBooks Premier and Pro 2002 will exchange data with a broad range of third-party businesses and industry-specific applications. The Intuit Developer Network, offering more than 25 third-party applications beginning in December, will enable users to exchange data between these editions of QuickBooks and other critical business applications, minimizing double data entry and reducing errors to save time and increase productivity.

Third party applications range from those addressing the needs of unique vertical industries, like retail and construction, to those addressing more general needs such as customer relationship management (CRM), shipping management, or handheld wireless data entry. The third-party applications will be made available for purchase through the third-party application developers' regular marketing and sales channels. More information on these specific applications is available at the QuickBooks Solutions Marketplace at http://marketplace.intuit.com. (See related release, Nov.27, 2002, "Intuit Releases First-Ever QuickBooks SDK to Third-Party Developers.")

Efficient Reporting & Enhanced Functionality

Fast, accurate reporting is an important part of any successful small business. QuickBooks 2002 users will benefit from enhanced reporting capabilities, including enhanced column sorting and additional customization by adding customer and vendor information. With more than 100 new report templates that help gain greater insight into business finances, Premier 2002 and Premier: Accountant Edition 2002 QuickBooks users can share reports with their small business accountant to optimize productivity. Small businesses can save time with an improved sales tax feature that simplifies the task of accurately classifying the reasons why an item is non-taxable. The new QuickBooks Help and Support Center -- which utilizes WexTech Systems' AnswerWorks natural language search engine -- allows users to simply type in a question and easily search the help database for the answer.