The Intuit Partner Council is a group of owners and managers of accounting firms, all of whom are deeply immersed in the QuickBooks universe. The Council currently consists of 15 people; eight completing their second year and seven adjusting to their first year. We meet in person twice a year on the Intuit campus. The second meeting of Intuit's FY23 just ended.

QuickBooks is an amazing software for business owners. When I first started using it in the '90s, it was desktop only. But the difference between keeping manual ledgers of business transactions—and the efficiency of QuickBooks—was more than life changing. The very progressive QuickBooks Online version is even better.

Last fall, I was incredibly honored to be chosen for Intuit’s Partner Council. For a few years, I had heard about it, but wasn’t really sure what to expect. Having just completed my second trip to the Intuit-verse, I’m eager to share my experience.

1. I believe Intuit is one of the most admirable companies in the tech world. The members of the project teams are smart and savvy. For 21 years, Intuit has been chosen by Fortune magazine as one of the Best Companies to Work For. We can easily see that when we are there. The people are kind, friendly, smart, inclusive, diverse, caring … and they shared their coffee app with us! If I didn’t already own a successful firm, I’d be applying for a job at Intuit!
2. QuickBooks is constantly changing and improving. Each feature that was presented to us was enriched far beyond its initial rollout. Nothing is stagnant. No matter how great each feature is, the project team is working to make it better. This is extremely important because it enables us to serve our clients better and better, giving them unexpected value as our relationship with them increases.
3. The project teams eagerly wanted to hear our opinions on all of the things they presented to us. Most of our sessions included breakout groups where we wrote our ideas on sticky notes or ranked in our preference order the things that they are suggesting to work on. Leadership listened to everything we said and made detailed notes, and we know for sure we will see results from these conversations. How do we know? Because after our October meeting, there were announcements at QuickBooks Connect related to the things we suggested.
4. Mountain View is filled with Tech Smarts. Google is across the street from one building, Facebook is around the corner, and Microsoft is nearby. There is so much Smarts in the air that you can’t help feeling it yourself. Most people have heard of Silicon Valley for years, and there I was languishing in it, grabbing the vibes, and holding on tight. Hopefully, I brought some home with me!
5. The Gallery Walk was kind of like the exhibition floor at a huge conference, but even better. There were 15 different stations for us to individually examine features and changes. The team member presented the feature to us, then asked us questions about them. Does this work? What’s different about this? How can this be better? If we had issues with a feature, they took notes and contacted us later to help us resolve our problems. Less than a week later, I heard from team managers about things I mentioned I needed help with.

One more really important thing is how close each Council member becomes to each other. We all have pretty much the same careers, mostly the same issues, and definitely the same goals for our QuickBooks' experience. I’m so happy to be a part of this amazing group. Its inspiration will affect my own firm for years.