The Accounting Podcast

Good day, eh? At QuickBooks Connect 2019, we got the chance to connect with our northern neighbors, Intuit's Scott Zandbergen, and Cheryl Monmohan, and CA Brad Celmainis, to get the latest news on QuickBooks in Canada.

Show Notes

Sponsors
Show Notes
  • 01:35 – Let's meet The Canadians!  (Well, three of them, anyway …) 
  • 03:41 – Canada's no longer last in the lunch line with the increasing focus on QuickBooks Online
  • 04:50 – Scott and Brad pontificate on  the new QBO statement-importing feature
  • 06:27 – How do Canadians approach cloud accounting, and all the innovation that comes along with it? 
  • 08:13 – Along with faster adoption of new tech, Canadian app development is on the rise, and people seem to share a common passion and excitement, without a lot of drama, on the socials. 
  • 10:42 – With the Canadian government’s investment in functional, high-speed internet, clients being eternally bound to their desktop programs is more the exception than the norm 
  • 12:00 – Brad talks benefits of going full cloud
  • 14:43 – Scott talks about some of the work Intuit’s Canadian branch is doing to solve for Canada-specific issues, such as tax and payroll
  • 16:30 – Winter is coming, or you'll be coming to Winter is you visit QuickBooks Connect Toronto. Grab a toque, or a touque, or a tuque?   
  • 18:24 – While Canadian accountants are excited about new industry developments, they also know a good thing when they use it, and tend to stay loyal to a narrow collection of accounting tools
  • 19:36 – Brad sees a sort of ‘take it or leave it’ attitude when it comes to dealing with U.S. accounting software developers. Some listen; some don’t. 
  • 21:50 – Cheryl notes that conferences, such as QuickBooks Connect, and Scaling New Heights are a prime method for discussion, learning, and developing partnerships that will lead to future opportunities
Connect with Scott, Cheryl, and Brad
Get in Touch

Thanks for listening and for the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on iTunes, or Podchaser. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus, and NOW, you can see our smiling faces on Instagram!  

Meet Blake in person! 
Limited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessities
Subscribe
Episode Art Photo Credit: 

Creators & Guests

Host
Blake Oliver
Founder and CEO of Earmark CPE
Host
David Leary
President and Founder, Sombrero Apps Company

What is The Accounting Podcast?

The Accounting Podcast (formerly the Cloud Accounting Podcast) is the world's #1 accounting, bookkeeping, and tax podcast! Join us weekly for a roundup of accounting news, analysis, and interviews. Plus, earn free NASBA-approved CPE credits for listening with the Earmark app. Learn more at https://earmarkcpe.com.

This episode of The Cloud Accounting Podcast is sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks. Accounting professionals and bookkeepers have long been at the forefront of using cutting-edge technologies to take the profession to the next level and to ensure they're delivering the best possible service to their clients. Whether you want to grow your firm or sharpen your skills, Intuit QuickBooks provides you with the AI-driven products, services, and the resources that you need to help all sides of your career take shape. To learn more about how QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Accountant, QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping, and the ProAdvisor program can help you grow your practice and scale your impact, head over to CloudAccountingPodcast.promo/quickbooks. That is Cloud Accounting Podcast dot promo forward slash Q-U-I-C-K-B-O-O-K-S. QuickBooks - Backing you.

Scott Zandbergen: People are getting on to these communities. They learn more about it, so there's a lot of passion and excitement.

Blake Oliver: Welcome to The Cloud Accounting Podcast. I'm Blake Oliver.

David Leary: I'm David Leary.

Cheryl Manmohan: I'm Cheryl Manmohan.

Scott Zandbergen: I'm Scott Zandbergen. [00:01:00]

Brad Celmainis: And I'm Brad Celmainis.

The Canadians: 😁 And we are the Canadians!

David Leary: The Canadians. We are not in Canada, though. We're in San Jose for QuickBooks Connect 2019. This is day two. We just finished lunch. We're well-fed. I was looking at our podcast download numbers, and our second biggest audience is Canada.

Scott Zandbergen: Go, Canada!

David Leary: So, podcasting's very big in Canada. Apparently, people really wanna listen to our show, and I was like, "I don't know really what's going on with QuickBooks in Canada right now," and I figured, let's bring [00:01:30] on some Canadians and figure this out. Do you each wanna just say what you do?

Cheryl Manmohan: Sure.

David Leary: You wanna start, Cheryl?

Cheryl Manmohan: Yeah. I can kick that off. I manage the Education Program for accountants and bookkeepers, so I'm basically responsible for the certification and education of ProAdvisors across Canada.

Scott Zandbergen: I'm Scott, and I'm kind of a community advocate guy. I work with the accounting and bookkeeping community across Canada. So, I get to go to a lot of the events, speak on lots of different stages, and share all of the good things that we are [00:02:00] working on at Intuit Canada for our ProAdvisors.

Brad Celmainis: I'm Brad, and unlike these guys, I don't actually work for Intuit, but some people say I do, so it gets confusing at times. My business is Brad Celmainis Accounting Solutions in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm a ProAdvisor, but unlike every other ProAdvisor out there, I don't do compliance work, tax work. I like the consulting- the operational applications of the software.

Blake Oliver: From where I sit, in Los Angeles, [00:02:30] you definitely seem to be a very visible ProAdvisor.

Brad Celmainis: Yeah, I got the social side down pretty good.

Blake Oliver: Yeah, you got that down pretty well. Awesome.

David Leary: At previous QuickBooks Connects, the Canadians come out with the power. They travel all the way to San Jose. Is it because of the weather? They're like, "We're out, and hey, it's beautiful in San Jose, right now ..."?

Blake Oliver: Yeah ...

Cheryl Manmohan: So, it's currently snowing in Toronto, Ontario-

Brad Celmainis: Calgary's got snow on the ground, too.

Scott Zandbergen: You know what? We're actually super-happy. We have about a hundred Canadian ProAdvisors that made the trip down this year. So, we held a nice event for them last night. A place called District; had a little soiree; it [00:03:00] was a lot of fun.

David Leary: There was a special party just for Canadians [crosstalk]

Scott Zandbergen: Just for Canadians, yeah, yeah ...

Blake Oliver: How do I get into that?

David Leary: How do we get into that one?

Scott Zandbergen: I'm sorry, but you guys weren't invited.

Cheryl Manmohan: That's the first sorry. Are we counting the sorries on this episode?

Blake Oliver: Ding!

David Leary: Is that a Canadian thing to say sorry a lot?

Brad Celmainis: Yes.

Scott Zandbergen: I apologize [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: -we like to say "Eh?"

Cheryl Manmohan: We apologize ...

Brad Celmainis: C-A-N-A-D-EH? That's how you spell Canada, right?

David Leary: So, what's going on with QuickBooks in Canada? I know it exists. Previously, in the old Desktop days, Canada was always three years behind. It was a separate branch ... A feature would come in QuickBooks Desktop, and then, three years later, Canada [00:03:30] would get it. But now, with QuickBooks Online, it's the same code base, right?

Scott Zandbergen: Yeah.

David Leary: What's the differences in QuickBooks? Are there special things bookkeepers have to deal with in Canada? What's the scene up there?

Scott Zandbergen: Well, I'll start on that one. My history, I used to be on the product side for QBO in Canada ... Yeah, it's very different in the online world because it is one code base. There's something that we call feature flags, or country flags in the products, so many times, a feature will get deployed globally all at the same time, or across the [00:04:00] world, which is really awesome because Canadians are always accustomed to having to wait three years for some new feature or something like that.

Now, we are pretty much on par with all the great things coming out and, in some cases, we've had access to the new capabilities because we're testing new features in Canada before they roll out across the globe. Statement import would be an example of that, that we have in Canada already that is nowhere else.

David Leary: I heard yesterday- I think the stat was on statement import ... In Canada, 85 percent of all [00:04:30] available banks, or bank statements for the [inaudible] can be downloaded because I think Canada just has a limited number of banks, so it's easier to do that [crosstalk] but that's pretty good. Nobody's close to that in the U.S., unless you put all your clients on the one bank ...

Cheryl Manmohan: Which everybody will do.

Blake Oliver: Because they listen to us ...

Cheryl Manmohan: That's right.

Blake Oliver: Right.

David Leary: I'm sorry ... Sorry, I interrupted about the statement importer. Continue on.

Scott Zandbergen: No, it's probably one of the most- features that people are really looking forward to, at least in Canada. Based on the reaction from the main stage, yesterday, when Ariege talked about it, clearly, [00:05:00] everybody here wants it, as well. In fact, I got kind of bugged at lunch just now by sitting across from somebody from San Diego. She was asking, "Why did the Canadians get that feature and we didn't get it?" I'm like, "We're Canadian. I'm sorry ..." [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: -yeah, there's definitely an envy. I've talked to some people, as well, and they're like - this morning, down in the Society of ProAdvisors - "You're Canadian. Tell us about this." I don't actually have access to it because I wasn't on the beta, and I deal with the only bank in [00:05:30] the country that isn't on board with it yet, which kinda disappointed me, but I've watched it in action. It is super-cool.

People are gonna love it. I think they're just gonna have to realize that the bugs and everything, they gotta get them out. They really dialed it in, though. From what I'm hearing, it works almost perfectly [crosstalk] deal with the breakdowns, right? They don't wanna deal with that because that's what's happening with the existing tools out there is they don't stay connected. I don't think that's the case. Is that correct, Scott?

Scott Zandbergen: From what we're seeing so far, yes. [00:06:00] We've also had this in beta, in Canada, for, I don't know ... It feels like six months-

Brad Celmainis: Well, since the last QuickBooks [crosstalk]

Scott Zandbergen: Okay, so even longer. The feedback from the limited group that was using it was they were really blown away with the way it was fully integrated into the Reconcile screens, and the connection seemed really, really solid. So, yeah, now that it's starting to roll out holistically, I think it's gonna be a pretty popular feature.

Blake Oliver: So, broadening the discussion, not just [00:06:30] QuickBooks, but cloud accounting, in general, how is the world of cloud accounting in Canada different than it is here in the United States? What are the big differences?

David Leary: It's colder ...

Cheryl Manmohan: I had an interesting conversation with one of our national sales team members, and he was saying that one of the things he's noticed is the adoption is much quicker in Canada, amongst the larger firms, than it is in the U.S.. Is that true? I don't know.

Blake Oliver: I don't know. It's possible.

Cheryl Manmohan: That's what we're hearing. [00:07:00]

Blake Oliver: Interesting.

Cheryl Manmohan: We're hearing that Canada, the larger firms are more ready than they are in the U.S.. Have you heard that, Scott? Did I make that up?

Scott Zandbergen: I think you made that up, but we'll go with it-

Cheryl Manmohan: Do you think that was after a couple of beers last night that somebody said that?

Scott Zandbergen: Yeah, I wasn't part of that conversation, but [crosstalk]

Blake Oliver: We report false information all the time on this podcast, so ...

Cheryl Manmohan: Well, in that case ...

Brad Celmainis: Well, it seems that there's a lot more talk about it in our communities in Canada because they're smaller. It's kinda like it's really getting out there. Now, official [00:07:30] adoption rates- I keep hearing there's 20 to 25 percent.

Blake Oliver: Yeah.

Brad Celmainis: I don't know how that compares with the U.S., or the UK, or Australia, but it does seem we talk about it a lot, and people are getting on to these communities, and they learn more about it, so there's a lot of passion and excitement about it. I think that's why people come down here. We've got the great QuickBooks Connect in Toronto, but Canada's a massive country, so you're getting ... A lot of the people that are down here right now are coming down from British Columbia, which is [00:08:00] due north - short flight. I'm two hours from San Francisco. I think that's why people wanna be a part of this technological revolution. It just seems that we talk about it a lot.

Blake Oliver: Yeah.

Brad Celmainis: I spend a lot of time in the U.S. social media groups, as well. I just find the vibe is different. We have a lot more passion in our forums. There's a lot more interest in getting better, and because we're so polite, [00:08:30] we don't complain as much ... So, I like the vibe on our groups. I may be biased.

Scott Zandbergen: I would say there's a strong sense of a tribe, like community in Canada [crosstalk]

David Leary: Yes, I have observed that.

Scott Zandbergen: -and that's certainly all grounded around cloud accounting. The other point I was gonna make around Canada being- I don't know if it's unique, but we certainly see a lot of app development happening out of Canada, which has really cropped up since [crosstalk]

Blake Oliver: Yeah, a ton of startups, recently-

David Leary: -process is hot ... Process is really hot.

Scott Zandbergen: Yep.

Cheryl Manmohan: Vancouver, and Calgary seem to have a lot of that [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: -in Calgary, we have CHATA. We have ... I'm trying to think ... Helm [crosstalk] Helm is here. [00:09:00]

Scott Zandbergen: Helm. Dryrun.

Brad Celmainis: Dryrun ... Well, they're in Edmonton, but yeah, it is big everywhere, and these accounting apps are popping up. I know of more in the works, as well. So, I think it's, disproportionately, we're lower in a lot of things, but it just seems more visible.

David Leary: I can definitely see how they ... You talk about the tribe ... Because I think if you are an accountant or bookkeeper in Canada, you get to bond with other accountants and bookkeepers; you get to bond over QuickBooks if you love QuickBooks and all these apps. But then because you're Canadian, [00:09:30] you get to bond, as well. I think, here in The States, no accountants and bookkeepers are bonding, like, "We're Americans!!"

Brad Celmainis: Yeah, true ...

David Leary: Nobody's doing that, right? So, there's one less layer of bonding, and you can see that and feel it through the Facebook groups. It's just really ... Nobody brings U.S. flags to a conference and waves them around because there's a Canadian onstage.

Cheryl Manmohan: Right.

David Leary: But the Canadians do that.

Scott Zandbergen: We saw that. Yes, that's right [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: -of course, Firm of the Future, the last two champions were from Canada, and they're not doing that anymore, so we are the-

David Leary: That's because Canada was hogging [crosstalk] [00:10:00]

Brad Celmainis: -champions, forever.

David Leary: They had to kill the whole contest [crosstalk] Canadians were getting it.

Brad Celmainis: Yeah, we're never gonna win again, so we have to have a different competition.

Blake Oliver: So, we had a listener from, I think it was Iowa, mentioned that, "Cloud is great and everything, and I love listening to the podcast, and I wanna do everything, but a lot of the time, I can't because my customers do not have reliable broadband-internet access," which is still a problem in much of the United States. I'm wondering if you-

Cheryl Manmohan: Really?

Blake Oliver: Yeah. Outside [00:10:30] of major cities ... Is that an issue in Canada at all, or is there [crosstalk]

Cheryl Manmohan: I haven't heard it.

Scott Zandbergen: I forget the stat, but it's some crazy-high percentage of Canadians that live- hug the American border, in the major centers.

Blake Oliver: Okay.

Scott Zandbergen: So, that's obviously where we do most of our business, I would say. But, I think there's less populous areas where we do fine. The Canadian government has been investing in broadband internet, and things like that, and have a commitment to get high speed to every Canadian, but I think you'll certainly still find pockets where [00:11:00] that is problematic, yep.

Brad Celmainis: It's pretty rare, though. Like with my clients, I had some that live out in acreages and that, and they go out and buy their broadband, so they're guaranteed it. I don't really think of it as much of an issue anymore [crosstalk] because it doesn't come up very often. It used to be THE issue - if I don't have internet, I can't use cloud. I had clients, two, three years ago, that was an issue. They got to go on Desktop because of it. I don't have that conversation anymore, including rural clients.

David Leary: I always [00:11:30] find that a funny argument, too, because the people posting that, they're posting on Facebook. I'm like, "Obviously, you have connections! How is this possible!"

Brad Celmainis: Yeah, exactly.

David Leary: I'm not buying into the whole, "I don't have connections ..."

Blake Oliver: Well, it's one thing to go on Facebook, on your phone, and post something, but then to have the connection to ... I think the problem is the speed of loading pages [crosstalk]

Cheryl Manmohan: Yeah, it's the reliability.

Blake Oliver: -it's very frustrating to be able to have that instant satisfaction of entering a transaction in a Desktop app and then have to wait for a page to refresh-

Cheryl Manmohan: Yeah, and watch the wheel spin-

Blake Oliver: -and watch the wheel spin-

David Leary: It affects productivity.

Blake Oliver: Yeah, definitely. [00:12:00]

David Leary: Obviously, Brad, you're all in on cloud, pretty much. What's been the big benefit to you in your business when you did go full-blown cloud?

Brad Celmainis: It was just the ability to not have to deal with the IT infrastructure of my clients. Having to get VPN access, and the password, and it works sometimes. I don't like that part of the job. I had Desktop clients, that was the only way to get to them, or to travel to their destination. I don't like doing that. I really like [00:12:30] the ability to serve my clients wherever I am and have them all in one place; easily jump back and forth between the files, and, of course, the back-up, and keeping the file from getting corrupt. You don't have to worry about that anymore. So, I don't miss that part of it.

I mean, I still do some Desktop support, but I tend to be very selective who I'm gonna take in, in that area. I take higher-quality clients. The big one is, in Desktop, people call you up and say, "Inventory [00:13:00] broken, please fix." It's like, I don't think I want to because inventory gets broken in Desktop because it wasn't set up correctly. They do it wrong for four or five years. Someone does an adjustment; they make it worse. I dread those, so I won't do clean up and stuff like that.

It really is, on the cloud side, it just makes my life easier; it allows me to stay focused on the type of client I'm looking for. I love being able to serve them wherever they are. I give them incentive to use my online access. I charge [00:13:30] extra. If you want me to come to your office, I will charge travel, charge mileage. It's really allowed me to just stay focused on that tight leash and be super-passionate about the brand.

I had a potential client recently, and he's on Desktop. I said, "Why are you on Desktop?" He gave me his reasons; I didn't really buy it, so I came back with my natural response, and he goes, "I sort of expected you to come back with a marketing message." I said, "Marketing message? No, [00:14:00] it's not. That's just reality. You don't wanna be left behind. Why not future-proof your business?" That wasn't enough for him. He said, "Well, thanks, but no thanks. I'm fine."

I stay pretty focused, and because I'm in the community and listening to the messages from you guys on the podcast; I know Intuit Canada very well; I can stay on point. It helps me sell benefits of being in the cloud. It's just easier. Desktop, I tend to avoid the discussion.

David Leary: Scott, how does Intuit and QuickBooks solve all the regional-type [00:14:30] things, like sales tax, or back tax being calculated, or payroll? I mean because there's ... That won't work, if QuickBooks Payroll for the U.S. just can't do it with a bunch of other countries, so how do I payroll if I'm in Canada?

Scott Zandbergen: Yeah. Many people may not realize, but we have our own development teams that are Canadian-specific. In Edmonton, Alberta, we have, I don't know ... There's probably 200 people that work out of that office or something like that, now; the majority of the staff there are engineers, so [00:15:00] they do development. We have a portion of them that are just meant for doing localization work. Sales tax and payroll are two great examples of where we can't just take what's coming out of Mountain View from the QBO team and then just roll it out in Canada. We have to do localization.

The last couple years, we've been doing a full-on overhaul of the Sales Tax Center in QBO and been rolling that out; great feedback. The other one- well, I definitely would plug the work that's going on for Payroll because, for anybody [00:15:30] in the QBO world, has known that the Canadian Payroll module has been a little bit unloved for a number of years, right?

Brad Celmainis: Understatement ...

Scott Zandbergen: I'm putting it lightly, yeah ... But, in last, I'm gonna say, 18 months or so, they've really been doubling down. Put three new engineering teams in Edmonton that are just focused only on Canadian Payroll, and they're just knocking features outta the park, right now. If you wanna keep your eye on what's going on in the payroll space, I think QBO Payroll, Canadian Payroll is gonna be a force to be reckoned [00:16:00] with in the coming months and years, yeah.

David Leary: Wow! The gauntlet's been dropped!

Scott Zandbergen: Boom!

Cheryl Manmohan: Can I make a plug for one of our exciting QBC sessions? We have a Payroll session this year to talk about-

David Leary: At QuickBooks Connect in Toronto?

Cheryl Manmohan: That's right.

David Leary: What is this event? When's this happening?

Blake Oliver: How do we get- how do we get there?

David Leary: Can I bring a bunch of USA people there? Could we have a USA party when we go there [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: Only if you bring flags.

Cheryl Manmohan: Yeah.

Blake Oliver: What time of year is it, in Toronto?

Cheryl Manmohan: It will be in the dead of winter, and-

Blake Oliver: Okay ... Well, you're always in a conference hall, anyway, so ...

David Leary: Winter is coming. Is that the theme?

Scott Zandbergen: Winter [00:16:30] is coming.

Cheryl Manmohan: Winter is coming, yep. Bring your touque. What do we call them down here?

Scott Zandbergen: Beanies [crosstalk]

Blake Oliver: -a touque is a beanie?

Cheryl Manmohan: A touque is a beanie. We'll get you some- we'll get you a translation tool for that.

Blake Oliver: Okay, got it!

Cheryl Manmohan: Yeah, December 9th to 11th, we've got QuickBooks Connect coming up. Scott, what do we got going on? We've got, from my perspective ... So, I'm responsible for the accountant and bookkeeper sessions. We've got 33 sessions going on this year, which is up from 24 last year. So, we've got a ton more [00:17:00] accountant content. We've got meetups going on. We've got ... You've been talking about hearing about brain dates down here. The one-on-one stuff. So, we've got that, as well.

Scott Zandbergen: I would also say we're on our fifth year of having a QBC, although it's been- it was rebranded a couple times. We used to call it Intuit Thrive for the first couple of years. Now, we're on year three or so of QuickBooks Connect. It's essentially a smaller version of what we're at right now, in San Jose. We will have somewhere [00:17:30] between 1,500 and 2,000, which is pretty good.

Blake Oliver: That's not too small [crosstalk]

Cheryl Manmohan: -it's respectable for a small country like ours.

Scott Zandbergen: I think we're punching above our weight class, to be honest ...

Blake Oliver: Do you have app sponsors, as well [crosstalk]

Scott Zandbergen: App sponsors, yep. We've got an exhibit hall; somewhere around 50 sponsors-

David Leary: Do you get Canadian celebrities?

Cheryl Manmohan: We do. Can we tell you who's gonna be there?

David Leary: Yes, who's gonna be there?

Cheryl Manmohan: Are you guys into space?

Blake Oliver: Yeah, who is it?

Cheryl Manmohan: Our most famous, or our second-most famous Canadian astronaut's gonna be one of our keynote speakers. Does anybody know who he is? [00:18:00] Mr. Chris Hadfield.

Blake Oliver: Oh, wow!

Cheryl Manmohan: Colonel Chris Hadfield-

Blake Oliver: Colonel Chris Hadfield ...

Cheryl Manmohan: He's gonna be there.

Brad Celmainis: He is awesome!

Blake Oliver: That's great.

Cheryl Manmohan: We've got him. We've got a couple of the speakers we're seeing here are gonna be up north, as well. We got them some toques, and they said they'd join us [crosstalk]

David Leary: -warm up there.

Blake Oliver: Who are the big app marketplace partners in Canada? Is it the same mix that we see here, or is it a different shift?

Brad Celmainis: I think it's more tightly focused. There's this tech stack in Canada that people seem to use over and [00:18:30] over again. You got the three accounting tools. Of course, Hubdoc, Canadian company. Technically, I guess it still is - based in Toronto. A lot of loyalty because it's a Canadian brand. Receipt Bank is a very common tool and, of course, AutoEntry is very popular there. That's it.

So, those are the three tools that- you use one or the other. We have payment tools that are very specific to our marketplace, like Pluto, WayPay ... Those are really popular. You just don't see as [00:19:00] many of the different apps that are down here, because some of them may not even work in the marketplace. It is definitely a tighter tech stack, I think.

David Leary: Can I build off of that question?

Brad Celmainis: Absolutely.

David Leary: It's my experience, I've seen a lot - when I was had the apps team at Inuit - a lot of people would try an app ... They would try it out, and they're like, "Oh, my God, this'd be awesome!" Then they find out it doesn't do something that candidate needs.

Brad Celmainis: Usually tax.

David Leary: What's your message to app developers?

Brad Celmainis: Queue it!

David Leary: Are they ignoring the Canadian market? Are they missing the Canadian market? Is the Canadian market just hard to deal with? [00:19:30] What's your message - you have this free platform here to deliver - to these app developers that are ignoring Canada?

Brad Celmainis: My impression has always been that some will take it seriously, when you ask, and to some, it doesn't even matter. They'll say, "Well, I don't see why it wouldn't work," and you try it out ... It's when that tax component comes in because we have a national sales tax. So, you pay it no matter where you are, and that's important [crosstalk]

Blake Oliver: So, one sales tax jurisdiction to deal with?

Brad Celmainis: Well, there's one across Canada [crosstalk]

Scott Zandbergen: and there's provincial [crosstalk] [00:20:00]

Blake Oliver: But not like the 20,000 or something [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: Like you have in New York City, where you have 18 taxes on your bill [crosstalk] That's the big one, but if you do talk to the app partners, and I'm gonna applaud LOCATE Inventory [crosstalk]

Blake Oliver: I was gonna ask you what you do for inventory.

Brad Celmainis: Well, tools like SOS are really popular because there's a lot thrown into that tool, but LOCATE has been listening because their tool has a really ... It's that mid-market niche ... Now, you can take QBO, throw a tool like LOCATE [00:20:30] at it and punch outside your weight class for sure.

Blake Oliver: This is what David talks about all the time. It's like QBO plus add-ons becomes ERP, or mid-market.

Brad Celmainis: Yes. That's where they're focused, but they don't have the GST piece. Some of our ... I'll mention Sherri-Lee Mathers, a friend of all of ours ... She has been working with them to get the GST done, and they're really close. I think they're gonna announce it fairly soon. Then, we've got the access to those tools. Some listen; some don't.

Scott Zandbergen: What I think, too, is every [00:21:00] time this conference happens down here and there's a lot of these app partners. I don't know how many are here. You probably [crosstalk].

David Leary: I counted. It's about 109.

Scott Zandbergen: What happens is always a flurry of activity that happens post-QBC because a lot of them are having conversations with 100 very passionate ProAdvisors from Canada that are here, and they're putting pressure on, and they're asking, like, "This is exactly what we need in our market." So, I think you'll always get a few app partners afterwards that will start to at least explore that as an option, right? Because, up until this point, some of them are [00:21:30] not even thinking Canada.

Brad Celmainis: That's a great point, because at Scaling New Heights in June, that's where the LOCATE thing started. Sherri talked to them, and they said, "Yeah, we we'd like to do it." I don't think ... At the end of the day, why not give it a shot, in some cases? I think it depends on the size of the app and how much resources they have to devote to it.

Cheryl Manmohan: Then, I think if there's the opportunity for the app partners to connect with folks like you who are on the Canadian side to discuss things like the compliance that they need to learn about, [00:22:00] then once you form that partnership, then I think it creates better opportunities.

David Leary: Got it. So, I think we're running out of time here. We're gonna have to wrap up soon. Before I have everybody tell us how to connect with you guys individually, if people are interested in QB Connect Toronto, how do they find out about that?

Scott Zandbergen: Go to Google; type in "QuickBooks Connect Toronto."

Cheryl Manmohan: December 9th to 11th. Don't miss it!

David Leary: Okay. Cheryl, if people want to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Cheryl Manmohan: You can find me on Twitter, or you can find me on Facebook, as @CManmohan for Twitter. [00:22:30]

David Leary: And Scott, how about you?

Scott Zandbergen: Same. Twitter. Email me. Put it in the show notes, I guess, right?

Blake Oliver: What's your Twitter handle?

Scott Zandbergen: @SZandbergen.

Brad Celmainis: With me, Twitter, as everyone knows, I'm @BradCelmainis, and Facebook, very visible there, as well [crosstalk]

David Leary: Don't you have a group? A Facebook group [crosstalk]

Brad Celmainis: -we also have a called "Get Intuit." You just type in "Get Intuit." We're really focused on the Canadian brand ...

David Leary: And Blake?

Blake Oliver: You can find me, as always, on Twitter. I'm @BlakeTOliver. And how about you, David?

David Leary: I'm @DavidLeary on Twitter.

Blake Oliver: Thank you all so much.

Brad Celmainis: Thanks [00:23:00] for having us. That was a lotta fun [crosstalk]

David Leary: Awesome. Have a great rest of the conference-

Blake Oliver: Thank you! Have a great rest of your conference.