CPA Practice Advisor

SEP 2014

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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September 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 21 THE PROADVISOR SPOTLIGHT business'. In fact, most of the data that lenders need to focus solely on the business already exists within Quick- Books. It's just a mater of making the data available to fnancial institutions. Tat's where Intuit's QuickBooks Financing comes in. This ser vice is designed to help the small business owners' chance of approval by helping them provide the right data to fnancial institutions. Trough QB Financing, users a re able to get pre-approva l quotes from several fnancial institu- tions without having to physically visit several branches. Using the technology that already exists within QuickBooks, I nt u it is able to send i n for mat ion i n s t a nt l y to t hei r pa r t ner ba n k s , reducing the time from application to funding. "We could see in the market that the approval process took approximately 2-3 weeks, and in some cases, it could take months. However, by facilitating the delivery of information and geting it to lenders quicker, there are some lenders that can approve and release funding in as litle as a few days," said Jef f rey K au f ma n, Group Produc t M a nager, Sm a l l Bu si nes s Group, Intuit. To get started, users must provide financial information for their busi- ness, such as revenue for the previous year, the number of years in business and if the business was proftable the previous year. Applicants must also provide their personal credit score; t houg h, t h i s i s t he on ly per sona l information that is required. Te rest of the criteria look at the business' financials. Once users provide their credit score and agree to allow access to their QB data, they are provided with detailed interest rate ofers and information. Quick Books Financing runs the user's information against its database to fnd the best possible matches. Te results returned display the top lenders the small business owner is eligible for, the cost of the loan, the terms of the loan and the estimated approval time. For many businesses, the approval time c a n be t he top dec id i ng fac tor i n choosing a lender. This is especially true for businesses looking to obtain fnancing for a particular project. Once a user decides upon a lender, the user is then taken to that fnancial institu- tion's website to complete the loan application. Intuit looks for lenders that serve a number of industries. It also vets its lenders to ensure that the lenders' systems are secure and can integrate into the QB ecosystem seamlessly. "We try to partner with different lender s bec au se we w a nt to h ave diversity in terms of the products and services ofered through QuickBooks Financing. But, we also want partners that are tech savvy. Our top priority is to take the pain out of the loan process for small businesses, as well as fnancial institutions. In order for us to success - fully achieve this, we look for partners that can ofer seamless integration into QuickBooks," said Kaufman. W hile Intuit works hard to help match sma l l busi ness ow ners a nd lenders to lower the denial rate, it does not g u a r a nt e e t h at u s e r s w i l l b e approved. If someone is denied, they can return to the system and try again with a diferent lender. And, if a user has granted access to their QB data, applications can be pre-populated with the information the fnancial institu- tion received – eliminating the need to manually complete multiple applica- tions. "Our goal is to reduce the pain of trying to choose between thousands of lenders. We want to present our small busi ness c ustomers w it h t he best options based on their fnancial condi- tion and how they want to use the f u nd s. We work w it h ou r lend i ng partners to ensure that each lender's approva l rates a re consistent w it h what's show n on t he Qu ick Book s Financing site," said Kaufman. QuickBooks Financing has helped fund more than $45 million to small businesses in the year since it was rolled out and it keeps growing. Te service is expected to triple in the next year. As part of its growth strateg y, Intuit plans to expand Quick Books Financing to also include educational resources for small business owners. The content will focus on common terminology for small businesses, loan terminology, SBA small business loans and government subsidized rates. Te company also plans to release a guide that will help walk users through the various options they may have avail- able. " Q u i c k B o o k s F i n a n c i n g w a s birthed because accountants wanted assista nce i n helpi ng t hei r cl ients obtain f unding. At the same time, fnancial institutions wanted to be able to guarantee a return on their invest- ment. We were able to help both sides by creating a solution that made it painless for small business owners to provide all the information lenders need. Our mantra is 'one-click lending,' and we have made it that easy for small business owners to get the funding they need by being able to provide the right information at the right time," said Kaufman. INTUIT SURVEYED ITS QUICKBOOKS USERS AND FOUND THAT 60 PERCENT OF ITS SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMERS NEEDED SOME TYPE OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR THEIR BUSINESS. ON AVERAGE, 70 PERCENT OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS HAD BEEN DECLINED FOR BUSINESS FINANCING. Intuit offers fnancing to help Main Street small businesses succeed.

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