First launched in mid-2020, the QuickBooks cash flow planner tool looks at the user's financial history to predict future money in and money out events. Being based on machine learning, the more it is used, the more it learns about the user's cash flow.

According to the NSW Small Business Commissioner, cash flow continues to be the biggest challenge for small businesses, with 57% of surveyed small business owners saying it was their number one pain point.

The QuickBooks cash flow planner doesn't get the money in any faster, but it is supposed to give a good prediction of a business's situation over the next 90 days and beyond.

The five new features are headlined by "an industry first" BAS prediction tool.

"For small businesses with high cash volatility, it can be really challenging to project how much money they have coming in and out and ensure that they've set aside enough for BAS payments," said Intuit QuickBooks director of product management Mindy Eiermann.

"QuickBooks [cash flow planner] uses machine learning to predict the GST amounts owed for the upcoming quarter, which means that, for the first time, our customers have real-time visibility into how much money they need to cover critical expenses and the confidence to make smarter business decisions, and taking away the "BAS surprise" that happens when BAS is due."

Intuit Quickbooks customer Samantha Davies at Platypus Co-working said "Having the QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner predicting our cash flow means I now have a real-time view of money in and out, so I'm not lying awake at night worrying about whether I'll have enough to cover my big expenses. Knowing when to expect customer invoice payments is a huge weight off my shoulders and means I can focus more on my customers and core business, plus, the new BAS predictor tool gives me the ability to forecast tax liabilities, so there's no nasty surprises come BAS time."

The other new features are:

• An invoice prediction tool to predict when you will be paid
• A new extended view to provide insight and help businesses better manage their money-in across the next 90 days and beyond, up to 12 months.
• A recurring events tool
• Access to real-time cash-flow data on-the-go with the mobile planner (initially for iPhones and iPads, with an Android version to follow)

Gustavo Brites, who works in operations at Brah Superfood, said "I love the new QuickBooks cash flow features, especially at the moment with COVID. We import some of our products from Brazil, so with the predictions we're able to see the cash flow will be for the month which really comes in handy for when we need to make a big payment."

He added "I can now also see if a customer is notorious for paying invoices late, so I've set up reminders to mitigate that and I know not to count on that incoming cash. It's also really user-friendly, you don't need to be an expert in accounting software to use it or to benefit."