Jumping to ‘buy now’ with a safety net of ‘pay later’

TOGETHER WITH

Seamless integration awaits: Half of businesses wait on unpaid invoices. It doesn’t have to be that way. QuickBooks added Affirm’s BNPL directly to bills. Clients get flexible plans, and businesses get paid instantly. There’s nothing to set up; it’s already there.

If one number could sum up the invisible weight business owners carry, it might just be 56. That’s the percentage of small businesses currently sitting on unpaid invoices. And the median amount they’re owed? $17,500.1

$17,500 earned. Delivered. Invoiced. Not paid. This isn’t money that’s lost or in dispute. It’s sitting in someone’s inbox, buried under their “I’ll get to it” pile, while you cover payroll, reorder inventory, and hope the timing works out.

For a small or midsize business, that’s more than a mere inconvenience; it’s a payroll complication and an inventory problem. And more importantly, it poses a looming question: “Can we actually grow this business?” Unpaid invoices can be silent killers of small-business cash flow. The solutions have often been too much of a hassle, too expensive, or too complicated. That is, until now.

Things just got uncomplicated

Intuit QuickBooks has partnered with Affirm to bring buy now, pay later (BNPL) functionality directly into QuickBooks Online.2 If you’re a QuickBooks Payments customer, this isn’t some far-off concept. It’s already here, and it’s essentially plug and play.

Here’s the easy part: When you send an invoice through QuickBooks Online, your eligible customers can now choose flexible pay-over-time options, including installment plans as low as 0% APR. Customers get a little more time to pay, and you get paid up front. Even better, Affirm handles the entire financing process, from application to approval. The familiar “I’ll pay you in 60 days” conversation may become much less common.

Why this really matters

For years, BNPL has been synonymous with consumer retail. But Intuit and Affirm are taking it beyond the checkout cart by bringing it to invoices and estimates, where cash flow often lives and dies for small and midsize businesses.

Consider the scale: QuickBooks manages roughly $2 trillion in invoices annually.3 That’s not a niche pilot program, that is an infrastructure shift. By embedding BNPL into the workflows for invoices and estimates that millions of small businesses already use every day, this partnership has the potential to change how small businesses can generate revenue.

The timing also makes sense. In an environment where every dollar of working capital matters, giving customers more flexibility while helping businesses get paid upfront isn’t just a nice-to-have—it can become a competitive advantage. Beyond improving payment flexibility, BNPL can help increase customer conversion and reduce friction at the point of payment. When it’s easier for customers to say yes, it’s easier for business to continue growing revenue.

An integrated BNPL experience

The integration is different from a merchant setting up a standalone payment plan or financing program because there’s no additional tool needed to manage it. If you’re already using QuickBooks Payments, the Affirm option is built in, so there’s no separate integration and no new finance workflow to learn.

Small-business owners already wear enough hats. The last thing they need is another platform to manage. They need the systems they already rely on to work harder for them. That’s what this integration is designed to do; it aims to remove friction to give them time back that could be spent toward growing their business.

The bigger picture

Adding BNPL to QuickBooks isn’t just another payments feature. It reflects a broader shift in how financial software is evolving—from simply recording transactions to helping businesses manage cash flow more proactively.

Instead of asking businesses to take on the responsibilities associated with financing, Intuit and Affirm have embedded it directly into a workflow that millions of businesses already use. For business owners, that means less time chasing payments and fewer barriers between sending an invoice and getting paid. More importantly, it means they can spend more time on running and growing their business.

A new reality for getting paid

Unpaid invoices have long been treated as an unavoidable part of running a small business. Many owners simply accept delayed payments as the cost of doing business. But that assumption is beginning to change. The partnership between Affirm and QuickBooks offers customers QuickBooks Payments, a practical, flexible way to tackle this. As BNPL becomes part of the invoicing workflow, faster, more predictable payments could become the norm—not the exception.

For business owners looking to improve cash flow without adding complexity, that’s a shift worth paying attention to. After all, revenue only helps your business once it becomes cash in the bank.

Ready to accept BNPL now? Get started.
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Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. For details about our money transmission licenses, or for Texas customers with complaints about our service, please visit intuit.com/legal/licenses/payment-licenses.

QuickBooks Payments: QuickBooks Payments account subject to eligibility criteria, credit, and approval. Subscription to QuickBooks Online required. Not available in US territories or outside the US.

1Based on results from 2025 Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Late Payments Report: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/small-business-data/small-business-late-payments-report-2025.

2Payment options through Affirm are subject to an eligibility check and are provided by these lending partners: affirm.com/lenders. For example, a $1,000 purchase might cost $90.26/mo over 12 months at 15% APR. Affirm availability and eligibility may vary. Restrictions apply. See affirm.com/terms#use. Options depend on the purchase amount, and a down payment may be required. For licenses and disclosures, see affirm.com/licenses. Affirm buy now, pay later features have limited availability and are subject to change. Features may be more broadly available soon. If you do not currently see Affirm Buy now, pay later in your QuickBooks Online account, please email [email protected] to request access.

3Based on total invoices managed in FY25. Online payments volume on QuickBooks across payments and bill pay totaled $174b in FY25.