The company also pointed to strong growth in QuickBooks Self-Employed and acceleration in both conversion from the desktop accounting software and in growth of customers new to Intuit

CEO Brad Smith pointed to the acceptance of QB Self-Employed and what he said is an extremely larger potential market for that product.

"This is a secular trend that continues to grow," he said in a recent earnings webcast. "There are hundreds of millions of these prospects around the world."

QuickBooks, which has been largely a product sold in the United States, also underwent sharp growth internationally. There were 433,000 subscribers in other countries on April 30, an increase 70 percent over the year-earlier figure.

Growth in QB Online has come primarily from new users, not from conversions from users of QuickBooks desktop. While conversions are still the not primary source of new subscribers, the rate of desktop migrations has picked up. There were 132,000 conversions during the first nine months of fiscal 2017, a 25-percent increase over last year's corresponding period.

At the same time, rate of new customers coming to Intuit has accelerated because of the combination of QBO and QB Self-Employed. In addition, the company is benefiting from the introduction of TurboTax Self-Employed. "Now, over 90 percent are new to the franchise," Smith said.

QB Self-Employed had 360,000 subscriptions at the ended of the quarter, up from 75,000 a year earlier. Also relatively new to the product lineup is TurboTax Self-Employed, which Smith said contributed 160,000 subscribers to QBO.

Intuit also intends to encourage taxpayers in other countries, who use tax products that are not from Intuit to link up with QB Self Employed.

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind