Intuit was founded in 1983 by
Scott Cook and
Tom Proulx in
Mountain View, California,
USA. After the success of its
Quicken product for individual financial management, the company developed similar services for
small business owners.
Initial release The initial Quicken software did not function as a
double-entry accounting package. The initial release of QuickBooks was the
DOS version that was based on the Quicken codebase. The Windows and Mac versions shared a different
codebase that was based on In-House Accountant, which Intuit had acquired. The software was popular among small business owners who had no formal accounting training. As such, the software soon claimed up to 85 percent of the US small business accounting software market. It continued to command the vast majority of this market as of 2013. Professional
accountants, however, were not satisfied with early versions of the system, citing poor security controls, such as no
audit trail, as well as non-conformity with traditional accounting standards.
Subsequent releases Intuit sought to bridge the gap with these accounting professionals, eventually providing full audit trail capabilities, double-entry accounting functions and increased functions. By 2000, Intuit had developed Basic and Pro versions of the software and, in 2003, started offering industry-specific versions, with workflow processes and reports designed for each of these business types along with terminology associated with the trades. Options now include versions for manufacturers,
wholesalers, professional service firms, contractors, non-profit entities and retailers, in addition to one specifically designed for professional accounting firms who service multiple small business clients. In May 2002, Intuit launched QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions for medium-sized businesses. In September 2005, QuickBooks had 74% of the market in the US. A June 19, 2008 Intuit Press Release said that as of March 2008, QuickBooks' share of retail units in the business accounting category reached 94.2 percent, according to NPD Group. It also says that more than 50,000 accountants,
CPAs and independent business consultants are members of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program. By then Brad Smith was the new CEO, though former CEO Steve Bennett had nearly tripled Intuit revenue and quadrupled earnings in eight years. On September 22, 2014, Intuit announced the release of QuickBooks 2015 with features that users have been requesting from the past versions. The release includes improved income tracker, pinned notes, improved registration process and insights on homepage. In September 2015, Intuit released QuickBooks 2016 that contains several improvements to the existing ones and new features such as batch transaction, bill tracking, continuous feed label printer support, batch delete/void transactions etc. In September 2016, Intuit released QuickBooks 2017 with several improvements like automated reports, smart search and improved viewing of report filters among other things. In 2017, Intuit released QuickBooks 2018, adding features such as mobile inventory
barcode scanning, multi-monitor support, search in the chart of accounts, etc. On September 17, 2018, Intuit announced the release of QuickBooks 2019 with some unique features requested by its users, including a history tracker for customer invoices, the ability to transfer credits between other jobs of the same customer, payroll adjustment feature, and more. On September 16, 2019, QuickBooks 2020 was launched with the aim to improve the reliability and experience of using the software. All the desktop versions - Pro, Premier, Accountant, and Enterprise - include new features like the ability to add customer PO numbers in email subject lines, send batch invoices to customers, automatic payment reminders, collapse and expand columns, easy QuickBooks version update etc. On September 4, 2020, Intuit rolled out QuickBooks 2021 with improved payment process and automated features. All the desktop editions in this version have streamlined bank feeds, automated receipt management, rule-based customer groups, payment reminders, customized payment receipts, data level permissions, and batch delete sales orders. ==International versions==