WebProNews

All small and midsized business (SMB) owners face the challenge of managing the backend operations (accounting and bookkeeping). The task can be tedious and time consuming, especially with data that needs to be put together for analysis is spread out over several channels.

Intuit Inc., the software company that distributes popular accounting and business management programs like QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, announced a new service called QuickBooks Merchant Service for Web Stores, aimed at streamlining online sales, credit card payment processing, and sales reporting.

The company says it has worked with leading online store providers to become "QuickBooks-ready" like Affinity Internet, Prostores (eBay), GoDaddy.com, Homestead Technologies and WebSite Pros to develop the service and ensure compatibility.

"Intuit has a long tradition of making products and services that help small businesses be successful," said Dan Wernikoff, director of product management for Intuit's QuickBooks Merchant Service. "By working with these trusted e-commerce companies, we've extended the power of QuickBooks to help small business leverage the Web."

The QuickBooks Merchant Service is tooled to help small businesses create a Web store, sell online, accept credit card payments and exchange business and sales data directly with QuickBooks. Business owners can also reconcile debit and credit card sales made via QuickBooks Merchant Service with the software.

Intuit says this compatibility can save business owners time by eliminating the need to manually reenter data. This enables quicker sales tracking, credit card payments, invoice and payment data and real-time financial reports in a central program.

"QuickBooks Merchant Service for Web Stores has made it easier for me to handle the back-end operations of our business," said Chris Bruce, who manages the Web store for The Sleeter Group, a QuickBooks resource provider for accountants, bookkeepers and small business owners. "Integration with QuickBooks has been a big time-saving element for our business, which grossed $20,000 in online sales in less than four months."