Intuit has been gauging interest among small businesses for an on-demand bookkeeping service called Live Bookkeeping and is expected to launch the service in the near future.

This has caused some consternation in the accounting world, sparking fears that Intuit is going into competition with its bread and butter — the community of accountants who serve small businesses, often with Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software. And specifically, the move raised fears that QuickBooks would compete with its own network of ProAdvisors.

We couldn’t find any formal announcements for the new service, but Accounting Today is reporting this week that Intuit contends that the service will actually create more business for its ProAdvisors.

The article quotes Rich Preece, U.S. Country Leader for QuickBooks, as saying, “We’re not competing with accountants. This [will] expand opportunities for ProAdvisors to work with small businesses,” Preece said. “We are incredibly fortunate to have very deep relationships with hundreds of accountants in the U.S. It would make no sense to start anywhere else.”

To read the full article, click here.