QuickBooks Enables Next Day ACH Payments For SMBs

Intuit’s QuickBooks is introducing a new feature designed to accelerate payments and cash flow for small businesses.

In a press release today (April 25), Intuit announced a new capability for QuickBooks to support Next Day ACH payments for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), an addition to QuickBooks’ range of services that enable stronger cash flow for users, according to Intuit Business Leader for QuickBooks Payments and Capital, Rania Succar.

“With the addition of Next Day ACH, we are giving small businesses and the self-employed a powerful suite of payments tools that allows them to get paid both faster and affordably,” Succar said in a statement sent to PYMNTS.

Businesses that invoice via QuickBooks Payments can receive next-day funding for both credit card and ACH transactions. According to QuickBooks, firms that invoice via its Payments platform are three times more likely to be paid same-day; however, there can be significant lag time between when a customer pays an invoice and when those funds actually land at the small business recipient. Having funds in their account next-day can be an important support for cash flow, the company noted.

In its announcement, QuickBooks pointed to Intuit research that found nearly one-third of small businesses wait more than 30 days to receive payment. Previous QuickBooks research also found that the largest barrier small businesses face when migrating away from cash and check payment acceptance is the cost of accepting electronic payments.

In addition to rolling out its next-day ACH capability, QuickBooks also released additional findings following on its “The State of Small Business Cash Flow” study.

Data from the “State of Small Business Payments” report published today revealed 44 percent of small business owners say not being paid on-time is the largest barrier to getting money in their accounts. More than one-third also said credit card companies do not pay them fast enough, while more than a quarter pointed to customers with insufficient funds to pay on time.

Sixty percent of SMBs surveyed are still paid by check, particularly when payment value is high. One-third of survey respondents estimate that the current value of outstanding receivables is $20,000, while on average, outstanding receivables among U.S. small businesses stands at $53,399.