This article was produced independently by our editorial team. Intuit QuickBooks provided a partnership fee to support our coverage; however, all opinions, research, and recommendations are our own.
Just because you can manage to keep your books balanced every month doesn’t mean your accounting software is sufficient. A simple upgrade to an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) can take a lot of stress off the shoulders of your finance team and make things like projections and budgeting much easier.
Here’s a litmus test: If you’re juggling multiple entities or locations and closing your books entails copying numbers into spreadsheets to get the whole picture, an ERP like Intuit Enterprise Suite (IES) likely makes sense. Depending on the scale of your businesses, it could save you days by automating those tasks and marrying multiple data sources.
Here’s what you need to know about Intuit Enterprise Suite.
Intuit Enterprise Suite
Multi-entity management
Dimensional reporting
Cost
- Year founded: 1983
- Company headquarters: Mountain View, California
- CEO: Sasan Goodarzi
What is an ERP system?
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is software that lets you run and manage your business processes from one single database. It doesn’t just keep your books; it connects your accounting with inventory, sales, purchasing, and more. That means when a transaction is recorded, all your data updates in real time.
This gives you much more visibility into your company (or companies) than basic accounting software, which is built primarily to record and report your financial data like the general ledger, accounts payable/receivable, and bank feeds.
All to say, if you feel that your business has outgrown standard accounting software like QuickBooks Online, and the spreadsheets and bolt-on apps around it, an ERP may be your answer.
What is Intuit Enterprise Suite (and who is it for)?
Intuit Enterprise Suite is explicitly for mid-market businesses that bring in millions in annual revenue. The software is designed for businesses that:
- Run multiple companies or locations and deal with intercompany transactions, or
- Want consolidated reporting across multiple entities
IES is also a good fit for project-based businesses that need to match revenue to the work as it’s fulfilled. As an example, franchise groups that manage several locations can use IES to see everything with one simple login.
How Intuit Enterprise Suite works
As you can see, Intuit Enterprise Suite helps you run multiple businesses while using a lot of automation to prevent you from getting bogged down with too much bookkeeping slog.
Here are the major perks of IES that you won’t find with, say, lower-level QuickBooks software.
Manage multiple entities
If you as a business owner are running more than one company or brand—or even multiple locations—your bookkeeping can get complicated in a hurry. You’ll be dealing with separate logins, spreadsheets, and unique difficulties at close. Intuit Enterprise Suite goes a long way toward solving that by managing all entities in one place. You can move money between accounts, request consolidated reports, etc. without having to piece data together by hand.
Forecast with AI and automation
When you rely on month-end reports, your information is always a bit dated. In other words, you don’t quite know in the moment whether your business is using your resources intelligently. Intuit Enterprise Suite forecasts with live data (think new spending, invoices, and bills) and uses this to project a cash balance over the coming weeks and months. That means you won’t have to wait for close to calculate a projection.
Add dimensions to your transactions
If you’re having trouble perceiving which department, location, or unit is making you money, a standard report won’t help you. IES Dimensional reporting lets you assign tags to your transactions, so running reports can help you to see your profit with a lot more clarity. It’s not just a general profit and loss report, it’s a deeper insight into how your business operates.
Help you prepare for audits
No matter who you are, an audit is, at the very least, extremely inconvenient. But if being audited would mean digging through emails and spreadsheets to figure out who is responsible for what changes and when, an ERP like Intuit Enterprise Suite can feel like a godsend.
IES has an audit log that tracks every change automatically. You can control access and even sign-off requirements granularly—even down to the role level of each entity.
Intuit Enterprise Suite vs. QuickBooks Online Advanced
A step below Intuit Enterprise Suite is QuickBooks Online Advanced, which is still a powerful tool for business owners running a single company (instead of multiple entities). You’ll find its custom fields and reporting depth to be less robust than with Intuit Enterprise Suite, but you likely won’t need the more intricate features of IES if you’re not cleaning up intercompany balances or have a need for more complex dimension-based reporting.
Here’s a quick look at the core differences between QuickBooks Online Advanced and Intuit Enterprise Suite.
As you can see, the upgrade makes sense once you’re overseeing multiple businesses or if you need additional reporting that QuickBooks Advanced simply can’t give you. In short, single-entity businesses without that complexity should be adequately served with QuickBooks Online Advanced.
The takeaway
Intuit Enterprise Suite is likely right for your business if your biggest financial frustrations come from the disconnect between your companies, not just what happens inside a single entity.
Consider IES if you:
- Manage multiple entities or locations under a single organization
- Find yourself routinely cleaning up intercompany balances manually
- Find that consolidated reporting across several companies and projects would benefit your business
- Are currently stitching together a handful of different company files with manual spreadsheets
If you’re only operating one company with relatively standard bookkeeping and straightforward reporting, QuickBooks Online Advanced is probably a better (and cheaper) option for your business.
Frequently asked questions
How is an ERP different from accounting software?
All ERP programs should cover accounting, but they also serve to connect your finances to things like inventory, sales, and projects, all on the same platform.
Can a small business use an ERP, or is it only for large companies?
ERPs come in different forms. Small businesses can certainly use them, but they typically make the most sense when the “operational complexity” starts to balloon (multiple entities, growing reporting needs, etc.). Most small businesses will likely be just fine with a version of QuickBooks Online.
How much does Intuit Enterprise Suite cost?
Intuit doesn’t list a price for Intuit Enterprise Suite online. Instead, you must call and receive a quote for your specific business.
Does Intuit Enterprise Suite support multiple entities?
Yes. One of Intuit Enterprise Suite’s biggest strengths is its native support for multiple entities. This prevents you from having to cobble together data from separate company files and spreadsheets to see your full picture.
Is Intuit Enterprise Suite considered a “true” ERP?
Yes. Intuit refers to Intuit Enterprise Suite as an AI-native ERP designed for growing companies. That means it’s less of a simple accounting platform and more of an organization-wide system that can manage all of your data and department processes.