New York (July 23, 2003) -- Intuit chief executive Scott Cook told reporters Tuesday that his company has underestimated the power of accountants and paid short shrift to their concerns in the past – but promised that such neglect is over.
“I’d like to offer a big mea culpa,” Cook told a group of accounting industry reporters during the New York CPA Society Business & Technology show. “We have not sufficiently focused on the needs of accountants and have not listened to them like we should have.”
For instance, Cook said that research has shown that when accountants are involved in the sale of QuickBooks, “sales double as does customer satisfaction.”
He also acknowledged that accountants have “important pain points that we haven’t solved” and said the company is committed to partnering with accountants in the future to guarantee both the company and the accountants’ success.
Executive vice president Lorrie Norrington added that as part of Intuit’s ongoing “Right for My Business” strategy, the company is exploring opportunities to help accountants in other ways. The strategy focuses on adding the functionality that larger and specialized end users require while retaining QuickBooks' low cost and operational methods.
“As we look at small businesses and the accountants serving small businesses, we are branching out beyond traditional accounting problems and helping customers and accountants manage their businesses and practices better,” she said.
-- Tracey Miller-Segarra
