Contractors Hammer-Out Business Finances with QuickBooks: Contractor E

    Business Editors

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2005--

    25 New and Improved Custom-Built Features in QuickBooks: Premier
    Contractor Edition 2005 Demolish Barriers to Contractors Success

    Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU) today broke new ground with QuickBooks: Premier Contractor Edition 2005. With more than 25 dramatically-improved customer driven enhancements, this new release paves a whole new path for contractors make more money on their jobs.
    In addition to adding critical job costing features which can help contractors eliminate unnecessary spending and improve margins, Contractor Edition 2005 now integrates with QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll Plus, providing businesses an easy way to manage payroll in-house. The new release also offers tools that improve small businesses ability to manage billing rate levels by employee, as well as track the cost of workers compensation to eliminate the risk of over- or under-payment.
    Built in conjunction with a fleet of contractors, QuickBooks: Premier Contractor Edition, developed under Intuit's 'Right for Me' strategy, is one of seven industry specific offerings which provide solutions that are right for a company's size and business. Contractor Edition serves the specific needs of general contractors and subcontractors of all sizes and trades, including general contracting, remodeling, electrical, plumbing, painting, masonry, interiors, kitchen and bath, landscaping, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

    Improve Job Costing

    Job costing is critical for running a successful contracting business and many contractors avoid it, fearing it will take too much time and effort. Those who do not track their job profitability may unknowingly lose money every day, eventually working themselves out of business. Contractor Edition features 18 contractor-specific reports, including six new advanced reports -- Job Cost by Vendor and Job Summary, Job Cost by Vendor and Job Detail, Job Cost by Job and Vendor Summary, Job Cost by Job and Vendor Detail, Cost to Complete by Job Summary, and Cost to Complete by Job Detail -- to help contractors track and improve job profitability.
    "With the job-costing feature in QuickBooks, it's easier for me to have a running barometer of what's going on with long- and short-term projects," said David Schleuter, president of All Site Land Improvement in Tampa Bay, Fla. "QuickBooks enables me to make sure that any project costs, like mileage expenses and on-site time, get assigned to the right job, plus I'm able to get more detail. This visibility helps me run a more profitable business."
    In addition, Contractor Edition includes a new Learning Center that features short, interactive tutorials and tips that teach contractors how to set up job costing. The tutorial also explains how to use the information to estimate more accurately, take more profitable jobs and stay on budget during jobs.

    Track Payroll and Workers' Compensation

    Contractor Edition integrates with QuickBooks: Enhanced Payroll Plus (additional fees apply) to help small businesses manage payroll easily and accurately in-house. The service provides contractors the control and flexibility of processing payroll in QuickBooks and gives them the payroll tools they need to save time and to minimize tax hassles.
    The new built-in workers' compensation tracking tool manages the classification codes and rates associated with various job functions helping business to more accurately determine the cost of workers' compensation. The tool also calculates and excludes overtime premiums, eliminating the possibility of premium under- or over-payment.
    "It's a lifesaver!" said Susan Adelle, treasurer of Design 2 Construction in San Francisco. "Especially the workers' compensation feature. Contractors have many codes, descriptions and rates -- sometimes up to four different codes and rates for one employee's paycheck. Now I can keep track of everything easily when it's time to fill out the quarterly reports on my insurance forms."

    Set Billing Rate Levels by Employee

    Contractors who do time-and-materials billing often charge customers different rates, depending on employees' experience or skills and then manually apply them to invoices. Contractor Edition allows small business owners to assign and automatically charge individual hourly billing rates per employee when completing invoices.
    "My employees and subcontractors bill at different rates, which makes budgeting quite complicated. I'm now able to track their hours against my estimates, then seamlessly transfer the cost over to invoices, helping to eliminate the risk for error and saving me countless hours of manual calculations," Adelle added.

    Intuit's "Right for Contractors" Solutions

    Intuit also offers a contractor edition of its award-winning QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions for growing contracting businesses. This product is designed to meet the demands of growing small and medium-size businesses, and features accelerated multiple-user performance, increased database capacity, 10 user seats and customizable access controls.
    Intuit also offers Master Builder(R), the company's most advanced construction business management solution. The package addresses the key functions of the construction business profit cycle -- estimating, project management, accounting and analysis -- all in a single system.
    Through Intuit's Developer Network, QuickBooks: Contractor Edition can be further customized to meet specific needs of contractors by adding one of the more than 25 contractor-specific applications that interface with QuickBooks. Added features for contractors include job costing, project management and estimating and are available through the QuickBooks Solutions Marketplace at http://marketplace.intuit.com/.
    More information on QuickBooks: Contractor Edition is available at www.usequickbooks.com/contractor. For more information on Intuit Master Builder, see http://masterbuilder.intuit.com.

    Pricing and Availability

    QuickBooks Premier: Contractor Edition 2005 is currently available for $499.95 and can be purchased directly from Intuit by calling 1-888-2-INTUIT, visiting www.quickbooks.com or at leading retailers including Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, CompUSA, Costco, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Sam's Club and Staples.

    About Intuit Inc.

    Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks(R), Quicken(R) and TurboTax(R) software, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries(R) and Lacerte(R) are Intuit's leading tax preparation software suites for professional accountants.
    Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of nearly $1.9 billion in its fiscal year 2004. The company has nearly 7,000 employees with major offices in 13 states across the U.S. and offices in Canada and the United Kingdom. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.

    Intuit, the Intuit logo, QuickBooks and QuickBooks(R) Premier: Contractor Edition, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Intuit Master Builder, among others, is a trademark and/or service mark of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries.

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CONTACT: Intuit Inc. Cate Lochead, 650-944-3846 cate_lochead@intuit.com or Access Communications Jared Leavitt, 415-844-6253 jleavitt@accesspr.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA FLORIDA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HUMAN RESOURCES BANKING SOFTWARE REAL ESTATE BUILDING/CONSTRUCTION PRODUCT SOURCE: Intuit Inc.

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