Forecasting & Planning In An Extremely Seasonal Business— Intuit’s Experience

FORECASTING & PLANNING IN AN EXTREMELY SEASONAL BUSINESS—INTUIT’S EXPERIENCE By Sanjay Ramanujan and Andréa Fisher For income tax filing, the two heaviest months are February and April …. more and more people are now using electronic medium for their queries …. forecast improvement increases market share and improves customer experience. Intuit, founded in 1983, is the developer of financial software geared toward small businesses, accounting professionals, and consumers. Intuit’s flagship products include QuickBooks® (accounting software for small business owners), Quicken® (personal finance management), Lacerte® (accounting software for tax planning and tax return preparation for large professional firms), ProSeries® (professional tax software for accountants), and TurboTax® (personal tax software for consumers). With 7,000 employees, Intuit’s revenue in fiscal year 2005 was over $2 billion. Its mission is to create new and easy ways to manage personal finances and small businesses. Given the complex and ever-changing tax laws and a cheaper alternative to a certified tax professional, more and more consumers use tax software to prepare and file their federal ...