Last week, during its Innovation Gallery Walk at company headquarters in Mountain View, California, Intuit showed off several new apps for small-business owners to manage their finances and save time and money by getting things done on the go. For many of the apps demonstrated, Intuit's focus was on creating a "mobile first" approach. Here's a look at some of the highlights.

The Quickbooks mobile app, available now as a free download, allows you to track estimates, invoices, sales, and receipts on a job site. Your Quickbooks data syncs from the desktop program, through the cloud, and down to the mobile app; the app works with either the desktop Quickbooks software or Quickbooks online. One of the most helpful features makes your Quickbooks contacts available directly, giving you the ability to start a call or send an email to someone on the contact list, and keeping your business contacts from getting mixed in with your personal phone contacts.

Small-business owners who subscribe to Intuit's Online Payroll or Quickbooks Online Payroll services now have the option to take care of employee payroll from a mobile device. The app, available now for iOS and Android phones, can handle both hourly and salaried employees in three steps. After the app calculates all the tax withholdings and deductions, it can either set up the direct deposit for enrolled employees or tell you the amount to write on the check. Employee contact information is available directly from the app, too, so you can call a staffer to confirm that person's hours without having to look up the phone number elsewhere.