QuickBooks Fuels Growth As Intuit Surpasses Q1 Targets

Intuit announced its Q1 FY2018 earnings this week, posting better-than-expected results for the firm and highlighting growth fueled by QuickBooks.

“We are off to a strong start growing first-quarter revenue 14 percent and exceeding our overall financial targets,” Intuit chairman and chief executive officer Brad Smith said in a statement.

The company posted $886 million in revenue, with QuickBooks Online subscriptions growing 56 percent year-over-year to 2.55 million subscribers. QuickBooks Online Self-Employed saw growth, too, with subscribers making up a sixth of all QuickBooks Online subscribers, hitting 425,000 (up from 390,000 in the prior quarter).

According to reports in ZDNet, QuickBooks’ solid performance is no surprise, considering the unit also fueled growth for Intuit last quarter.

“QuickBooks Online subscriber growth continues at a rapid pace, and online ecosystem revenue is accelerating for small business and self-employed,” Smith continued. “Gearing up for the tax season, we are focusing on delivering an outstanding end-to-end customer experience for the do-it-yourself taxpayers, while rolling out new solutions to our customers.”

Intuit’s other units saw growth, though not as aggressively as its QuickBooks operations. The firm’s Consumer segment grew year-over-year by 7 percent following the launch of TurboTax Live, while its Strategic Partner segment grew by 2 percent year-over-year.

“Our results and progress in the first quarter set a nice cadence for the year to come, as we continue to develop innovative ways to deliver on our customer benefits of no work, more money and complete confidence,” Smith added. “With ongoing momentum across small business, I can’t wait for the tax season to begin.”

The results followed earlier remarks Smith made at the QuickBooks Connect conference this week, where the executive urged accountants to embrace artificial intelligence technology in order to meet changing demands by small business customers for an advisor, rather than a number-cruncher.