Intuit QuickBooks

Thirty-seven years ago Intuit Ltd founder Scott Cook witnessed his wife struggling to balance the family chequebook. It inspired him to create Quicken, a product that went on to revolutionise personal finance – and so the Intuit international brand began.

The company has gone on to develop a range of desktop and cloud-based software that helps customers – accountants, small businesses, the self-employed and individuals – to manage their finances.

Ten years after its start, Intuit, with its headquarters in Mountain View, California, opened an office in Maidenhead. It has since moved to London Victoria and has more than 250 employees – and counting.

The company's best-known brand here is QuickBooks, which allows small ventures and the self-employed to manage their finances and grow their businesses. QuickBooks is the fastest-growing and No 1 accounting software in the UK.

When employees started working from home, they took what they needed from the office such as their laptops and phones. However, many still didn't have the correct equipment to carry out their job safely. This was especially an issue for the customer service team, who needed reliable internet. Intuit started shipping out people's actual office equipment but this was difficult for staff outside London. So it simplified the process with a list of items that could be ordered directly.

Despite growing into a company of over 9,000 across eight countries on five continents, Intuit has always aimed to maintain the mindset of a start-up – coupled with the strength of experience of a global corporation.