Tech News: QuickBooks rolls out new features

Intuit rolled out new features for QuickBooks; Genius Scan introduced new expense reporting capacities; Xero plans to retire WorkflowMax; and other news from the accounting technology arena.

QuickBooks rolls out new features

Intuit's Ariege Misherghi speaking at QuickBooks Connect
Intuit's QuickBooks added a new offering for QuickBooks Payments customers and updates to its Instant Deposit feature. Payments Dispute Protection brings customers dispute protection so chargebacks are automatically forgiven, with no action required. PDP will let customers receive chargeback protection of up to $25,000 per year and $10,000 per transaction, with no need to submit paperwork or evidence. The new instant deposit features, meanwhile, are available for all payments and checking customers. Instead of providing debit card information each time they need immediate access to their cash, businesses can enter their bank account details just once and the cash (up to $25,000 per day) is deposited instantly. There is no long-term commitment and deposits are available 24/7, even on holidays and weekends.

KPMG and Microsoft team up on quantum computing

KPMG logo on wall
Tannen Maury/Bloomberg
Big Four firm KPMG teamed up with tech giant Microsoft to work with quantum computing research firm Quantinuum on a project to help make it easier for engineers and developers to use quantum computers by translating high-level coding languages and tools into quantum circuits. The project involved the Q# programming language, which has been designed for the specific needs of quantum computing, and allows for the blending of quantum and classical computing operations. KPMG's quantum team wanted to translate an existing algorithm into Q#. The firm accessed the H1-1 QPU with 20 fully connected qubits. H1-1 recently achieved a Quantum Volume of 32,768, demonstrating a new high-water mark for the industry in terms of computation power as measured by quantum volume. The KPMG team then wrote a tutorial about the project to demonstrate how an algorithm writer would use the KPMG code step-by-step as well as the particular features of QIR, Q# and the H-Series. It is the first time that code from a third party will be available for end users on Microsoft's Azure portal.

Genius Scan introduces new expense reporting capacities

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Cybrain - Fotolia
Grizzly Labs, the company behind document scanner app Genius Scan, announced the release of a new expense reporting feature aimed at small businesses. With the new expense reporting feature, users will be able to not only export copies of receipts, but also automatically generate expense reports associated with them containing details like date, merchant, category, etc. The report can be formatted as either a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet. It also allows for customizing categories available for expenses, as they can rename automatic default categories or create  additional customer categories that match their own business practices.

Xero to retire WorkflowMax

Xero-HQ-Auckland
Xero said the tech-focused advisory firm BlueRock has acquired the brand for its WorkflowMax product, and so the accounting software developer will be retiring its version in June 2024. As part of the transition, Xero will continue to use the WorkflowMax brand and manage existing WorkflowMax customer subscriptions until the product is retired. Once WorkflowMax by BlueRock is launched, Xero will have an ongoing revenue share agreement with BlueRock in connection with WorkflowMax by BlueRock. BlueRock plans to have WorkflowMax by BlueRock available to customers in early 2024 — which customers could choose to migrate to. Once released, WorkflowMax by BlueRock will be available directly from BlueRock or through the Xero App Store.

Partnerships and integrations

Top 10 Firm Baker Tilly is teaming up with green energy funding and tax credit marketplace Ever.green to launch a marketplace for clean energy tax credits. Baker Tilly will provide its energy advisory services, tax expertise and professional due-diligence excellence to the Ever.green marketplace to vet all transactions so they're secure and comply with regulatory requirements. … OnlineCheckWriter.com, an online check writer, announced that its platform is now available on the the Xero App Store. … Small business accounting solutions provider Xero partnered with multinational accounting association, Allinial Global, in a three-year global agreement where Xero will become the preferred cloud accounting solution for Allinial Global member firms and their small to medium business clients… Relay, an online business banking platform, has become the official banking platform for Profit First, a behavioral-based cash management system that teaches entrepreneurs to allocate their income into different checking accounts, so they can better manage their cash flow and ensure long-term profitability. … Accounting firm association CPAmerica has chosen Aiwyn, an accounting solutions software company, as a new preferred provider. The partnership gives member firms access to Aiwyn's Practice Automation platform, software built for accounting firms that automates revenue processes including billing, payments and accounts receivable collections.

Other news

AuditClub,  an audit service center for CPA firms and employees, launched AuditClub One to address the talent exodus and pipeline problems throughout the profession. Those who join AuditClub One will have access to training, technology, back office support, marketing, business development, management coaching, career development, unified strategy and growth planning. Club membership offers a pay-for-performance and transparent compensation model. … Cloud finance solutions provider Rippling has raised $500 million in a funding round led by Greenoaks. The round values the company at $11.25 billion, the same as the company's Series D financing in May 2022. The new funding comes shortly after the collapse of Rippling's primary banking partner, Silicon Valley Bank. The funding round recovered all funds from SVB, and Ripling's balance sheet now holds just under $1 billion in cash. It has also moved its banking operations to JPMorgan Chase. 
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