QuickBooks

QuickBooks is Intuit’s accounting platform, available as both a cloud application (QuickBooks Online) and a desktop product (QuickBooks Desktop). It covers invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, payroll, inventory, and financial reporting. QuickBooks holds a dominant market share among small businesses in the United States and is one of the most common platforms accounting firms encounter in client engagements.

Accounting firms access their client accounts through QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA), a free dashboard that consolidates all client QuickBooks Online files in one place. QBOA includes an accountant-specific toolbox with features like reclassify transactions, write off invoices, close books, and adjust journal entries — tools not available in the standard client view. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program provides free certification, training, and a directory listing for participating firms.

QuickBooks Desktop remains in use at firms and businesses that prefer locally installed software, particularly for industry-specific editions (Contractor, Manufacturing & Wholesale, Nonprofit). However, Intuit discontinued Desktop for new customers in 2024 (except Enterprise) and is shifting all development to QuickBooks Online. Intuit has also announced that QBOA will be replaced by the Intuit Accountant Suite by end of 2026, introducing AI-powered features including anomaly detection.

The platform integrates with hundreds of third-party apps and has a large ecosystem of add-ons for time tracking, payment processing, and vertical-specific workflows. It is best suited for firms serving small to medium-sized businesses, especially in the US and Canadian markets.