On February 10th, ComputerWorld announced that Intuit Corporation, the manufacturer of Quicken and QuickBooks, will sell the following products to H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm:
- Quicken — A popular personal finance program
- QuickBase — A customizable database for small-to medium-sized businesses
- DemandForce– A customer management platform for small businesses
Since Intuit’s financial quarter is from February 1 to April 30, they are working to complete the sale by April 30.
According to PCWorld magazine, the current head of , Eric Dunn, will continue to run the business under the new owners This news was also picked up by the New York Times in an article written on April 10. That article, plus another article printed on April 11 suggests these decisions were made as the company faces strong competition from other cloud products, such as Xero.
These moves also free up resources to concentrate on Intuit’s tax program, TurboTax, and the online version of its popular QuickBooks accounting program.
For now, there has been no formal announcement regarding its desktop edition of QuickBooks. Both QuickBooks Desktop Edition and TurboTax continue to show strong sales. If anything, sales of these products provided the financial resources to develop QuickBooks Online.
However, with the sale of Quicken, it is expected that this product will not grow and indeed, some users and analysts predict its demise.
We know several of our small firm clients who use Quicken in their businesses for simple check writing or a way to track their information, leaving it to their accountants to prepare their accounting statements .
At this point in time, we recommend that those users look to another accounting program and migrate their data as soon as possible.
Please contact us at 877-357-0555 or email us at [email protected] if you want further information or would like to look at alternative solutions.
Dana Riel is President and Founder of Business Solutions, Inc., serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1985. Her firm is the authorized training center for the region for Time Matters and PCLaw by PCLaw|Time Matters, PLLC; Timeslips and Sage 50 Accounting by Sage Software; and QuickBooks by Intuit Corporation. She also serves as a consultant for Caret Legal (formerly known as Zola Suite), CosmoLex, Soluno & TimeSolv. As a trainer, Dana has provided training services to organizations such as the DOD Defense Logistics Agency, Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAG)/Department of the Navy, University of the District of Columbia School of Law, U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as with small‐ to mid‐size law firms in the Baltimore‐Washington D.C. area. In 2009, she participated in the series of day‐long seminars sponsored by the District of Columbia Bar Association Practice Management Section, titled “Basic Training: Learn About Running a Law Office”. Ms. Riel also served as an Adjunct Professor in Georgetown University’s Paralegal Studies Program, having taught the course, “Legal Ethics/Legal Technology” in 2009; and “Legal Technology” for the Spring and Summer Semesters of 2010. She presently serves on the Advisory Board for PCLaw|Time Matters, PLLC.