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PCAOB Board Member Reveals Why 46% Audit Deficiency Rate Is Misleading

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When Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly accused PCAOB Board Member Christina Ho of “downplaying atrocious findings” about audit quality, it got me thinking: Do these alarming statistics about audit deficiencies really tell the full story?

The numbers definitely grab attention: Audit deficiency rates rose from 29% in 2020 to 46% in 2023. These figures from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) suggest that nearly half of all audits reviewed contained deficiencies so severe that “the audit firm had not obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support its opinion.” At face value, these statistics paint a troubling picture of the accounting profession.

In a conversation on the Earmark Podcast, I asked Christina to help me understand these numbers. Christina explained the gap between headline statistics and meaningful measures of audit quality.

Understanding the PCAOB’s Role

Before getting into deficiency rates, it’s essential to understand what the PCAOB does. Christina explains, “The PCAOB is responsible for making sure auditors who check the publicly traded companies’ financial disclosures are doing their job well.”

The PCAOB fulfills this mission by registering audit firms, inspecting their work, and enforcing standards through sanctions when necessary. The inspection program represents the largest part of the PCAOB’s operations, with different firms facing different inspection frequencies:

  • The “Global Network Firms” (Big Four plus Grant Thornton and BDO) are inspected annually, with about 50 audits reviewed for each of the largest firms.
  • Firms with more than 100 public company clients are inspected annually, with about 10% of their audits reviewed.
  • Firms with fewer than 100 public company clients are inspected every three years.

The Misleading Mathematics of Deficiency Rates

When the PCAOB announced that 46% of audits reviewed in 2023 contained significant deficiencies, it received considerable attention. In our discussion, Christina pointed out several critical issues with how these numbers are presented and interpreted.

First, these audits aren’t randomly selected. The PCAOB uses a “risk-based approach” that deliberately targets audits they believe are likely to have problems. 

This selection bias fundamentally changes how the statistics should be interpreted. Christina pointed out, “We really can’t extrapolate the deficiency rate to the entire population of all audits because we did not take a statistical sample.”

Even more revealing is what these deficiencies actually mean. Despite the alarming definition, the PCAOB’s own reports include a critical disclaimer that Christina highlighted: “It does not necessarily mean that the issuer’s financial statements are materially misstated.”

In fact, less than 5% of these so-called deficient audits resulted in incorrect audit opinions—the outcome that would truly matter to investors. This stark contrast between the headline figure (46%) and the rate of consequential errors (under 5%) reveals how statistics without proper context can give the wrong impression.

Another significant issue is the PCAOB’s failure to differentiate between levels of deficiency severity. “Our deficiencies… we put everything in the same bucket,” Ho explained. “And in reality, not everything is the same in terms of impact and materiality.”

Unlike internal control evaluations, which distinguish between material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, and minor deficiencies, the PCAOB’s inspection reports do not make such distinctions. This makes it nearly impossible for investors to understand which deficiencies truly matter.

The Disproportionate Burden on Smaller Firms

Christina argued that the current inspection approach unfairly burdens mid-sized audit firms. While the largest firms have a smaller percentage of their audits inspected, firms just above the 100-client threshold face much more scrutiny.

“I personally think that our inspection program is disproportionately burdensome on these firms,” Christina said. This burden is so significant that some firms are intentionally reducing their client base: “They are trying to get rid of their audit clients to get under 100” to qualify for inspections every three years instead of annually.

This creates a troubling situation where firms avoid growth to escape regulatory burden. “I just don’t think it’s good for a very important part of an ecosystem to try to not grow,” Christina said. “We need to make sure we have resilience in the audit marketplace.”

The impact extends beyond individual firms to affect market competition and, ultimately, the capital markets themselves. When mid-sized firms deliberately avoid growth, it concentrates the market among the largest firms—limiting options, especially for smaller public companies.

The Political Fallout

Christina experienced firsthand how deficiency statistics can become political weapons when Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse publicly accused her of “downplaying atrocious findings” after she questioned these metrics in a speech.

“I was very upset about being accused of lying,” Christina told me. “I thought it was very hypocritical of the senators, especially Senator Warren, to essentially bully me because I had a different view from her.”

Rather than reaching out for discussion, the senators sent a letter to the PCAOB Chair, which Christina said left her without “a proper avenue to respond.” This prompted Christina to respond via LinkedIn, where she received significant support from accounting professionals.

This incident highlights how statistics without context can be weaponized in ways far beyond academic disagreements about methodology.

The Search for Better Measures of Audit Quality

Given the problems with the PCAOB’s deficiency rate figures, how should audit quality be measured? Christina suggested several approaches that might be more meaningful:

  1. Look at trends rather than isolated annual statistics. Christina said, “The best way to look at the deficiency rate is not by each year. The best way to look at that data is to be looking at a trend.”
  2. Focus on restatements. Christina said, “Restatements is a much better metric…because that really measures the true impact to investors.” Restatement rates have declined over the past decade, suggesting improvement rather than deterioration in audit quality.
  3. Consider greater transparency. When asked if revealing the names of companies whose audits contained deficiencies would be beneficial, Christina was open to the idea, though she acknowledged the need for broader stakeholder input.
  4. Develop severity ratings. Creating a framework distinguishing between technical violations and substantive errors would provide context for interpreting deficiency findings.

Christina noted that measuring audit quality has been challenging because “audit quality is not quantitatively easily measurable.” And yet, the PCAOB’s approach to deficiencies is to treat all issues identically—regardless of severity or impact.

The PCAOB has been exploring “audit quality indicators” for approximately 15 years but has yet to develop more meaningful metrics. This lack of meaningful data makes it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the PCAOB’s oversight or the true state of audit quality.

Has Audit Quality Improved?

Christina believes the PCAOB has helped improve audit quality over the past two decades despite the challenges in measurement. When asked about evidence for improvement, she pointed to declining restatement rates and feedback from audit committee chairs and controllers who report improvements in audit and financial reporting quality.

“If you look at the data on the number of restatements and you look at the last ten, twenty years… restatement has been on the decline,” Christina said. “If you look at the AICPA/CAQ study that they released last year… if you talk to [audit committees], they feel that the audit quality has been improving.”

This more nuanced perspective indicates that, despite the worrying headlines about deficiency rates, the overall reliability of financial reporting might be improving.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Audit Oversight

As artificial intelligence and other technologies transform audits, Christina argues for “a more agile approach” to quality measurement—one that can adapt to technological change and focus on outcomes rather than inputs.

After talking with Christina, it’s clear to me that to move forward, we need to find a balance between regulatory oversight, an understanding of how audits work, and what affects the reliability of financial statements. If we don’t, the profession will get bogged down by misleading metrics that only check compliance boxes rather than enhancing what counts: protecting investors through trustworthy financial reporting.

Want to hear the entire conversation with Christina Ho about PCAOB deficiency rates, audit quality measurements, and her experience with political criticism? Listen to the complete episode of the Earmark Podcast.

Hidden QuickBooks Updates in March 2025 That Will Change Your Accounting Workflow

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Keeping up with the changes in QuickBooks can feel like a full-time job. Thankfully, Alicia Katz Pollock and Margie Remmers-Davis are here to help you out!

In this episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, they dive into what they’ve discovered in March 2025. They cover everything from minor tweaks to major updates that will change the way accounting professionals use QuickBooks.

“What Margie and I do is we have a Google Doc that every time we notice something is different, we go ahead and take a screenshot and drop it in the doc,” explains Alicia. This method helps them keep an eye on both official updates and those cool experimental features that might disappear before you know it.

Let’s dive into the most notable QuickBooks changes they uncovered this month.

Menu Improvements 

Several interface enhancements make QuickBooks more user-friendly and efficient for daily tasks. One of the most notable improvements is the addition of a submenu for Reports in the left navigation bar.

“Every item that you hover over has a submenu that takes you to the tabs for that thing. For years, reports never had that dropdown,” Margie explained with obvious relief. “Thank heavens… hallelujah that they did this!”

The bookmarks feature has also been enhanced. Users can now edit bookmark names, which Alicia appreciates for fixing formatting issues: “When I bookmark the Reminders list, it always comes in in all caps, which triggers my OCD. I like being able to edit the bookmark and get it into regular case.” However, Margie expressed concern that custom bookmark names might create confusion during support situations.

For accountants working with clients considering Intuit Enterprise Suite, there’s now a quick link under the Accountant Tools briefcase labeled “Intuit Enterprise Suite referral.” This makes it easier to schedule meetings with Intuit sales representatives to evaluate if the suite is right for your clients.

Financial Tracking Enhancements

A much-missed feature has returned to fixed asset management. When creating a fixed asset, users can now check a box labeled “create a category to keep track of depreciation,” which automatically creates two subaccounts – one for the original value and one for depreciation.

“This lets you see the net book value for that one fixed asset on the chart of accounts,” Alicia explained. “For my small business owners who might just have a couple fixed assets, it’s really great.”

The split transactions interface has also received a significant upgrade. “It used to be a tiny little window. Now it fills up your screen,” noted Alicia. The redesigned interface allows users to split transactions between different chart of accounts categories and map to different product and service lines simultaneously.

For businesses using payroll, there’s a new section for employer tax expenses in the payroll settings. “Now you have the ability to create micro expense accounts for literally any one of your employer taxes,” Alicia shared. This feature is particularly valuable for larger companies that want detailed expense tracking without relying on external spreadsheets.

Perhaps most helpful is a new warning system in the banking feed that prevents duplicate revenue entries. When users attempt to categorize a deposit for a customer with open invoices, QuickBooks now displays a warning message: “This client has open invoices. If this deposit is for that invoice, record the payment and receive payment first.”

Payment Processing Innovations

GoPayment, QuickBooks’ mobile payment solution, now offers Tap to Pay for iPhone users. This eliminates the need for the $50 Bluetooth card reader previously required for accepting payments in the field.

“You can hold your phone in your hand, log into GoPayment, dial up an order, and then they can just tap their credit card or tap their phone to your phone,” Alicia explained. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses that take payments on the go.

For businesses concerned about merchant fees, there’s a clever workaround. “If you turn off your merchant services, your customer still can pay using merchant services, but they pay the fees,” Alicia explained. This option is found under the “Manage” and then “Payments” button on the right side of an invoice.

The Business Network is also enabling easier payment information sharing between QuickBooks users. “Find your business network settings and put in your ACH information. Then that will just make it easier on everybody and you’ll get paid faster,” suggested Alicia.

Important Account Limitations to Watch

Recent changes to the QuickBooks Checking deposit account agreement introduce several transaction limits that could impact business operations:

  • ATM withdrawals limited to 10 per day
  • Daily purchase and withdrawal limit of $10,000
  • Funding transaction limit of $5,000 per day
  • Limits on instant transfers: “Up to five instant transfer transactions per day and per week, and up to ten instant transfer transactions per month”
  • A new 3% foreign transaction fee

“I’m definitely checking in with them myself because I don’t know what this means for me,” Alicia noted, particularly concerned about the instant transfer limits. “Are they going to start charging me or are they going to just slow down everything after the first five for the week?”

For those concerned about these limitations, Alicia mentioned alternatives like Anchor (flat $5 per transaction) and Forwardly (free transfers), which Margie confirmed her company recently switched to with positive results.

QuickBooks Payroll is also changing how it handles tax payments. “They’re going to start withdrawing your taxes when you run your payroll. So you have to have your payroll and your taxes funding available in the checking account when you run payroll,” Alicia explained.

Glimpses of Future Developments

The hosts spotted several experimental features that briefly appeared before disappearing again, offering clues about future QuickBooks developments:

  1. A column labeled “approval status” temporarily appeared in transaction lists, even in QuickBooks Online Plus accounts (typically an Advanced feature).
  1. A dedicated column showing which rule applied to banking transactions briefly appeared in the banking feed.
  1. For a moment, some users could create profit and loss reports with columns for custom fields, possibly related to the upcoming migration away from legacy tags.

Alicia also revealed she’s beta testing a completely redesigned banking feed experience expected to launch later this year. “I’ve been beta testing it and I like it,” she shared, noting that the upgraded split transactions interface seems to be a precursor to this larger overhaul.

Staying Current with QuickBooks Changes

These ongoing improvements and experiments show how crucial it is to stay updated with the latest QuickBooks changes. This way, you can better serve your clients and avoid surprises when logging into their QuickBooks accounts.

If you want to hear more about these updates and what’s on the horizon for QuickBooks, check out the full episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

Intuit’s Stockholders Meeting: What Accountants Need to Know

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Intuit recently held its annual stockholders meeting. Even if you spend your day working hands-on in QuickBooks, it’s important to understand the bigger picture behind this publicly traded company. 

In a recent episode of “The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast,” hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Matthew “Spot” Fulton analyzed the meeting and shared insights that can help accounting professionals plan for changes coming to the QuickBooks ecosystem.

Why This Meeting Matters

Intuit’s fiscal year ends on July 31, which means their annual meeting doesn’t line up with the usual calendar year or fiscal year. At each meeting, Intuit’s CEO, Sasan Goodarzi, and other leaders present the company’s strategy and financial results. Matthew explains he listens to these meetings because it reveals how Intuit’s plans match what accountants are seeing on the ground.

An AI-Focused Vision

Intuit decided in 2018 to become an “AI-driven expert platform.” Goodarzi calls AI the greatest technology shift since electricity and the internet. Whether you agree or not, Intuit is already seeing major results:

  • 8x faster development velocity (roughly 30% quicker feature delivery)
  • 11% fewer direct customer support calls thanks to AI-powered self-service

Intuit also applies AI inside its own operations. Matthew describes it as an “eat your own dog food” strategy: They’re not just releasing AI tools for customers; they’re using the same tools internally to reduce workload and speed up development. For accountants, this means QuickBooks may change more quickly, making it vital to stay informed about new features.

Five Big Bets for Growth

During the meeting, Intuit repeated its “five big bets” for driving innovation:

  1. Revolutionize speed to benefit
  2. Connect people to experts
  3. Unlock smart money decisions
  4. Be the center of small business growth
  5. Disrupt the mid-market

The “connect people to experts” bet includes both Intuit’s own experts and independent accounting professionals. While some accountants worry about QuickBooks Live as competition, Alicia points out that the QuickBooks Live Expert Assist model can allow ProAdvisors to focus on higher-level services while routine questions go elsewhere. In many cases, accountants can also sign clients up for QuickBooks Live and share revenue.

Expanding the Ecosystem: Mailchimp and Credit Karma

Intuit’s acquisitions of Mailchimp and Credit Karma once puzzled some users. Now, the strategy is clear: create a complete platform. A business might start small in QuickBooks, then grow and need Mailchimp for marketing, or use Credit Karma to secure funding. Intuit reported:

  • 22% more customers using both Mailchimp and QuickBooks Online
  • 5x increase in Credit Karma users who finish taxes in TurboTax

This cross-platform synergy is part of Intuit’s plan to keep business owners on their products for every financial need. Meanwhile, the company continues to see massive usage overall:

  • $2 trillion in invoices managed across the platform
  • $124 billion in total payment volume
  • $10.4 trillion in consumer debt visibility via Credit Karma

QuickBooks Online Growth and Payroll

QuickBooks Online’s U.S. customer base grew by 11%, and QuickBooks Online Advanced saw a 28% rise in subscriptions with an 84% retention rate. QuickBooks Online Payroll revenue climbed by 23%, with 18 million workers paid through Intuit’s payroll systems each year.

These numbers highlight Intuit’s growing influence. Matthew believes the trifecta of QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Time, and QuickBooks Payroll offers more advanced project tracking, streamlined payroll, and faster reporting. Alicia adds that the new features—like revenue recognition and updated reporting—make QuickBooks Online Advanced more compelling than ever.

New Mid-Market Focus: Intuit Enterprise Suite

To “disrupt the mid-market,” Intuit introduced Intuit Enterprise Suite. They estimate the average revenue per customer (ARPC) at about $20,000 a year—or roughly $1,600 a month. While still in early phases, it could give companies that have outgrown QuickBooks Online Advanced or Enterprise more reasons to stay with Intuit. Additional API features and custom fields may arrive soon, which could benefit app developers and clients with more complex needs.

What About Mint?

A shareholder asked if Mint, Intuit’s personal finance tool, might see a refresh. Goodarzi gave a brief response suggesting no big revival is planned. This indicates Intuit remains focused on other core products, including QuickBooks, TurboTax, Mailchimp, and Credit Karma.

CEO Compensation and Long-Term Vision

About 7% of Goodarzi’s pay is salary, while 93% is in stock options. This structure links his earnings to the company’s success. Alicia sees this as a sign that Intuit’s leaders believe in their long-term strategy enough to connect most of their personal income to stock performance.

What It All Means for Accountants

Despite the rapid pace of AI and big-company acquisitions, Alicia and Matthew see opportunities for accounting professionals who adapt. QuickBooks Live might handle everyday questions, but accountants can build advisory relationships, train clients on best practices, and provide higher-level analysis. As Alicia notes, even though Intuit automates routine tasks, the human element remains vital for nuanced financial guidance.

Stay Informed and Keep Learning

To hear all the details—and pick up more practical tips—check out Episode 78 of the Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast. You’ll learn:

  • How Intuit’s “five big bets” connect to real-world QuickBooks features
  • Deeper insights into QuickBooks Online Advanced
  • Opportunities in QuickBooks Live Expert Assist
  • Ways to keep pace with AI and other tech shifts

By understanding Intuit’s direction, you can better guide your clients and spot new ways to grow your business. AI and automation are here to stay, but accountants who use these tools strategically can deliver even greater value.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

7 Game-Changing Features in QuickBooks Modern Invoices That Save You Time

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For accounting professionals who rely on QuickBooks, the invoice is arguably your most essential tool. QuickBooks’ modern invoice redesign represents one of the most significant overhauls in years, changing how you’ll create, send, and manage client billing.

In a recent episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Dan DeLong explore these new modern invoices, which have been in development for about a year. Alicia says, “They originally drove us crazy, and now I’ve actually become quite fond of them”—a journey many accountants can relate to when facing significant software changes.

Getting Started with Modern Invoices

If you haven’t switched to modern invoices yet, you’ll need to take that first step manually. When viewing a standard invoice, look for the “Update Layout” button in the upper right corner. Clicking this will convert the invoice to the modern experience.

The new interface might initially seem to take up more screen space (Alicia notes her screenshot size has doubled), but the extra real estate serves a purpose. Let’s explore what’s changed and why it matters to your practice.

Smarter Customer Insights Without Switching Screens

One of the biggest improvements is accessing client information without leaving your invoice. Next to the customer’s name, you’ll find a small Intuit Assist icon that provides valuable context with one click.

“It actually does have contextual information about the customer that’s there,” explains Dan. “So it’s nice to have it all in one place. And you don’t have to navigate and look in the customer section to see those types of insights.”

This panel shows:

  • Payment history by method (credit card, bank transfer, PayPal)
  • Number of open invoices
  • Number of overdue invoices
  • Customer relationship length

Alicia appreciates this feature: “I’m kind of used to having to have multiple tabs open where one I’m doing my invoicing and in one I’ve got the customers open… now I can see my customer information without having to navigate away.”

You can also edit customer information directly from the invoice screen by clicking the “edit customer” link. This allows you to update addresses and contact details without interrupting your workflow, a significant time saver.

Better Communication Tools for You and Your Clients

The modern invoice includes four different communication fields, each serving a specific purpose:

  1. Customer payment options: Instructions about how to pay that appear on the invoice
  2. Note to customer: General communication that appears on the invoice
  3. Internal customer notes (hidden): Team communications that clients can’t see
  4. Memo on statement: Text that appears only on customer statements

The internal notes feature is especially valuable for team collaboration. As Alicia explains, you can use it to record important details like “Customer got a PITA discount”—information your team needs but clients shouldn’t see.

Sales Tax Management Made Easier

According to Alicia, address management in the modern invoice is “mission critical” for those working in states with complex sales tax rules.

The system now clearly shows whether sales tax is calculated based on your business location or the customer’s location. By toggling the “add shipping info” link, you control which address determines the tax calculation:

  • When shipping information is collapsed, tax is calculated based on your business location
  • When shipping information is shown, tax is calculated based on the ship-to-address

“For those of you who are having trouble with sales tax calculating incorrectly, this is your game changer,” emphasizes Alicia. “Pay attention to the bill to, the ship to, and the ship from boxes and make sure that you have the right addresses in the right places.”

Expanded Payment Options and Strategic Fee Management

The modern invoice significantly expands payment options through QuickBooks Payments. Beyond standard credit cards, your clients can now use:

  • Apple Pay
  • Bank transfers (ACH/EFT)
  • PayPal
  • Venmo

What makes this integration powerful is that all these payment methods work through QuickBooks Payments—no separate PayPal or Venmo business accounts are required. This means all payments are processed with the same automatic recording, fee allocation, and deposit reconciliation that QuickBooks Payments provides.

“All of the automagic things that QuickBooks payments does—like recording the payments, recording the deposits, allocating the fees, making the deposit reconciled in the bank feed—all of those things are done for you,” explains Dan.

Perhaps most interesting is the new option to have customers pay the processing fees. By turning off all standard payment methods, you’ll see a new option labeled “your customer pays the fees.” When selected, this gives clients the option to pay via ACH while covering the associated costs.

Alicia shared a practical application: When clients’ credit cards expired, she sent invoices with the “customer pays fees” option enabled. In her email, she wrote: “You’re welcome to pay this yourself. If you want to save on the fees, give us a call with your new payment information so that we can update our systems. And then you won’t have to pay the fees; we’ll pay the fees.”

The result? Three phone calls with updated card information—problem solved.

Recurring Payments Without PCI Compliance Concerns

The modern invoice also introduces an improved approach to recurring payments that addresses security concerns. Instead of storing client credit card information (which creates potential PCI compliance issues), the system now allows clients to approve automatic future payments while maintaining control of their payment details.

“This is really replacing scheduled sales receipts,” explains Alicia. “Now you can make a recurring invoice, and the customer approves it to auto pay it in the future. So it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”

Dan adds that the system “automatically checks the auto-pay functionality so that they don’t have to find it. You don’t have to tell them where it is. It’s just preselecting that option.”

Customizing Your Invoice Experience

Nearly all customization options for the modern invoice are found in the Manage panel and can be accessed via the gear icon at the top right. These settings allow you to control what appears on your invoice without changing default settings for all clients.

Through this panel, you can:

  • Turn specific fields on or off (shipping information, service date, SKU column)
  • Manage custom fields
  • Configure payment options and tips functionality
  • Add discounts (percentage or dollar amount)
  • Control whether discounts apply before or after sales tax
  • Set up recurring invoices or payments
  • Access client reports directly from the invoice

For those who want to see exactly what clients experience, three view options are available after selecting the “modern” template:

  • Email View: How the email appears in a client’s inbox
  • Payer View: What clients see in the payment portal
  • PDF View: How the invoice looks when printed

“Rather than sending a CC or BCC to yourself to see what the customer sees, it’s nice to see it all in one place,” notes Dan.

Current Limitations and Future Development

While the modern invoice offers many improvements, some limitations exist in the current version:

  1. Design customization is limited to colors and fonts when using the modern template. To access all the modern features, you must use the standard modern layout rather than your custom templates. Intuit has indicated enhanced customization is on their roadmap.
  1. Reminders cannot be set on an invoice-by-invoice basis yet. Both hosts expressed a strong desire for this feature: “Intuit, if you’re listening, we desperately want reminders to be set up on an invoice by invoice basis. Desperately.”
  1. The Intuit Assist autofill feature is still in beta. This feature aims to create invoices automatically from files, images, or text, but accuracy varies, especially with line items. The hosts encourage users to try it despite limitations, as user feedback will help improve it.

Why These Changes Matter for Your Practice

These invoice improvements represent more than just interface changes—they’re part of a complete rewrite of QuickBooks Online’s underlying code.

“One of the things that’s really happening is they’re actually rewriting the entire code base underpinning all of QuickBooks Online because it originally started back almost 20 years ago,” explains Alicia. “The code that it was written on 20 years ago was modern back then. But things have changed on the programming side.”

This approach sometimes requires what Dan calls a “take a step back to move forward type of thing,” where short-term limitations enable long-term improvements. “They’re basically recreating the foundation so that new and cool features can actually take place,” he notes.

For accounting professionals, these changes deliver practical benefits:

  • Time savings from not switching between screens
  • Improved client experience with flexible payment options
  • Better security compliance through modern payment handling
  • Real-time visibility into invoice status, from creation through payment
  • Strategic tools for managing fees and client relationships

Most importantly, Intuit is actively seeking feedback. A prominent feedback link appears on each invoice, providing a direct channel to the development team.

“If you have a good idea, please go up to feedback and flood that feedback and let them know what you want to change,” encourages Alicia. “They are actively listening.”

Dan confirms: “Now they can act on the flood of feedback that has been coming in. They’ve been taking care of some of the more mission-critical issues. Now they’ll be able to further enhance this experience.”

Next Steps: Making the Most of Modern Invoices

To maximize the benefits of these changes, consider these practical steps:

  1. Explore the Manage panel thoroughly to understand all available customization options
  2. Try the Intuit Assist features even while in beta
  3. Review your sales tax settings in light of the new address field controls
  4. Use the view options to understand your clients’ experience
  5. Provide feedback to help shape future development

By mastering these new capabilities, you can transform what might initially seem like disruptive changes into meaningful practice advantages—delivering better client experiences while saving valuable time.

For a comprehensive demonstration of all these features, listen to Episode 80 of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, “Everything You Need to Know About Modern Invoices.”

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!