MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Small businesses will find more ways to save time with the latest version of QuickBooks® financial software from Intuit Inc. QuickBooks 2011 includes several new features that help small business owners find important data quickly when they need it, perform everyday tasks more efficiently and access essential business information remotely. The software goes on sale Sept. 27.

“For every small business owner, time is money. They want to focus on their business – their passion – not on their books,” said Dan Wernikoff, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Financial Management Solutions division. “With QuickBooks 2011, we’ve focused on helping them put seconds, minutes and even hours back on the clock.”

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2011 build on prior versions by streamlining important accounting tasks, such as invoicing and collecting payments. The new Customer Snapshot and Customer and Vendor History features provide at-a-glance views of important customer and vendor details. Users can also take advantage of the power of QuickBooks Connect, a new service that lets small businesses access key QuickBooks data remotely via the Internet or a mobile device. Additionally, as with previous versions, QuickBooks 2011 helps small business owners stay organized by allowing them to have their business information in one place.

A simplified startup process makes it easier and faster for new small businesses users to get up and running in QuickBooks 2011. New this year, the Quick Start Center guides users through installation and lets them import business contacts directly from their Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail webmail accounts. The center also recommends first steps to populate a new user’s account with key information to start quickly.

For many small businesses, QuickBooks is the hub of important customer, vendor, and inventory information. Accessing the right data at the right time can result in better business decisions and faster responses to customers. Upgraded features give customers quick access to important business information:

Customer Snapshot offers a consolidated view of an individual customer’s purchase history, average days to pay, and outstanding balance. This helps small businesses make timely decisions on customer requests.

QuickBooks Search lets users quickly locate any customer, account, report or invoice details within their QuickBooks repository with a simple keyword search.

Customer and Vendor History provides at-a-glance views of important customer and vendor details, such as history, estimates and past orders, on a single screen.

Balance Sheet by Class provides a way for QuickBooks Premier users to separately track multiple funds, departments or locations in a single, easy-to-access report.

“The new QuickBooks search enabled me to find three annual charges that had not been renewed on invoices and thus earned our company $300 that might have been missed altogether,” said Kathy Zaroczynski of Zaroczynski and Associates in Rochester, N.Y. “It is a very robust tool and I am very pleased with its performance.”