Price hikes for tax software were probably the major factor behind increases in revenue and operating profit for Intuit's Accounting Professionals business for the year ended July 31. Operating profit grew by almost two percentage points over fiscal 2011 while revenue rose by 5.6 percent.While the company said revenue from sales of QuickBooks Accountant and revenue from the ProAdvisor program were also factors, it seems likely that sales of income tax products produce the majority of revenue in this category. Intuit does not break out those sources.
Product revenue was up 8.1 percent from 2011 and 22.1 percent from fiscal 2010. Product revenue sales were $370 million last year, compared to $303 million two years ago. At the same time, the number of tax units rose to 107,000, a less than 1 percent total from 2010. The 2011 units of 105,000 were less than 106,000 units the prior year.
Total Accounting Professionals revenue was $423 million in 2012, $399 million in 2011 and $373 million in 2010. Total revenue growth was held down by a decline in service and other revenue.
Meanwhile, operating profit of $249 million is 18.6-percent higher than two years ago Operating margins for the segment were 56.5 percent in 2010 and rose to 57.1 percent for 2011, despite the decline in units sold, and continued their rise to 59 percent for 2012.
