Intuit increased the revenue it received from its professional tax preparation software customers for the year ended July 31, even as the number of units sold to them continued to slide.  The company reported that its Accounting Professionals segment, largely its Lacerte and ProSeries operations, generated $351.7 million in revenue in fiscal 2009, up 8 percent from $314.3 for the prior year. That came despite a drop in units, the second year in a row that has happened as the number of units sold fell to 108,000, down 3.6 percent from the 112,000 sold in fiscal 2007. But revenue generated by those units over the same period grew by nearly 12 percent. Executives told analysts on yesterday's conference call that the company expects the category to yield 3-percent to 7-percent revenue growth for fiscal 2010.

Here are some highlights of the year:

*PayCycle, acquired by Intuit during the year, had a little less than in $30 million annual revenue. Smith said PayCycle will be its payroll platform, replacing Intuit's prior product.

*The switch by consumers from packaged software to Web-based prepartion continued. There was an 11.3-percent decline in desktop sales, but a 36-percent rise in the sale of Internet-based units.

*The number of active QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions units grew to 37,000 at the end of fiscal 2009, up from 33,000 a year earlier. That 12-percent increase represented a slow-down, but compared favorably to double-digit declines in product sales by traditional mid-market vendors.

*QuickBooks units sold increased to 1.84 million, up 2 percent, while the dollars generated fell 2 percent to $578.8 million.

*The number of consumers filing returns did not grow, which happened in prior recessions, a factor holding down TurboTax growth. Intuit expects that trend to continue during the current fiscal year.

Overall, net income grew to just over $447 million, down 6.2 percent from $476.8 million for the prior fiscal year. Revenue hit just over $3.18 billion, up 3.6 percent from $3.07 billion. That came as product revenue dropped to $1.38 billion for the most recently ended year, down 7.5 percent from just under $1.5 billion the prior period. The company told analysts this reflected a continuing shift from the sale of products to the sale of services.

Intuit continues to seek expansion in the market by reaching customers who do not use software or a service for tax and payroll. Smith said the company believes it can use its QuickBook base as a source of customers for PayCycle.