Reimagined ProAdvisor Program Goes Live Today

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After 26 years, Intuit has ‘reimagined’ the ProAdvisor Program.

There have been minor revisions over the years, like the first certifications for Desktop and Point-of-Sale with badges awarded to display your accomplishments.  Then came the Find-a-ProAdvisor Directory, one of the most significant advantages of earning certification. 

Each time a new ‘leader’ of the ProAdvisor Program came along, there seemed to be a few tweaks in the Program, most notably ‘new styled badges’ that some ProAdvisors liked and others didn’t. 

In those early days, re-certification wasn’t so much a thing as simply learning the ‘next version’ of the software and passing the related exam.

Then Enterprise Certification came along, soon followed by that dreaded first ‘QuickBooks Desktop Advanced’ Certification that many people said was more complex than the CPA exam. After some tweaking of the exam question wording, it was a more commonly earned representation of having reached the pinnacle of QuickBooks accomplishment.

The Advanced Certification carried with it a re-certification requirement based on taking various related courses designed for that purpose. In other words, it was more of a CPE-type process where learning took priority over testing, just as with the CPA credential.

QuickBooks Online Certification was made available at about the same time, soon followed by the QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification. In this case, the Advanced Certification carried with it the ‘core’ Certification. 

This represented something new because when Online Re-certification was introduced, individuals had to ‘re-test’ every year over the changed product features and related concepts. If you were Advanced Certified, your single re-test qualified you for both credentials.

It wasn’t long after that Intuit announced the discontinuation of the QuickBooks Desktop Advanced Certification, which, to many in the ProAdvisor community who had earned it, was an “arrow through the heart.”

Finally, within the last couple of years, a Payroll Certification came along, which the ProAdvisor community had been requesting for years. 

Within the last 5 or 6 years, a tweak in the Program led to the establishment of ‘Tiers’ and another set of point-based badges.

For Online ProAdvisors, most of tier points arose from attaching clients’ QuickBooks Online accounts to their firm. It also meant attaching all your ‘team’ to a lead QBO Accountant subscription so that all the client attachments earned points across the team.

However, the ProAdvisor Program has primarily been ‘certification focused’; for the most part, those certifications drove the benefits ProAdvisors realized in their listing within the Find-a-ProAdvisor Directory. That listing ‘made the difference’ for many sole-practitioner practices and, in many cases, grew them into small firms with 2 to 5 to maybe 10 ProAdvisors.

Why Reimagine the Program Now?

Intuit’s ProAdvisor research and focus group has provided them with a different look at ProAdvisors. They are hearing that:

  • The average firm size engaged with the ProAdvisor Program is larger (in other words, not nearly as many solo or small firms).
  • The ProAdvisor Program’s certification emphasis doesn’t challenge or motivate accounting professionals/firms, and
  • The significance (meaning) of being a ProAdvisor has been lost.

Based on this, the new ProAdvisor Program (v1) goes live today (11/20/23), with more changes to come in the future.

The new Program should add value for many ProAdvisors by offering 20+ additions/changes to the benefits received. New tier thresholds and additional point-earning opportunities will increase the durability and exclusivity of ProAdvisors and New Badges are designed to recognize these changes.

But for some ProAdvisors, these changes may decrease benefits, including losing their Find-a-ProAdvisor listing. Murph

New Badges

Let’s look a little closer at the New Badges. Insightful Accountant may have been the first to display them in a story we published about the November 2023 release of the 2024 QBO ProAdvisor training and certification availability.

But there are a lot of changes here, including new recognitions (as shown below). You will find your new badges in your QuickBooks Online Accountant ProAdvisor Certification tab, where your old badges were previously located.

Not only have the certification badges changed, but there are also new badges for training modules. The first of these are ‘Banking’ and ‘Reporting’. I had heard about these new recognitions and was expecting to see them as a source of points for the new tiers, but they are not (yet) on the list.

Two additional badges recognize the work of the Trainer/Writer and QuickBooks Accountant Council members. Those lucky enough to be selected for these groups can now display a badge representing their accomplishments.

Lastly, their are the new ‘Tier’ Badges (shown below).

Tiers More Important Than Ever

And while some ProAdvisors have had little interest in ‘what tier they were in,’ the importance, scope, and earning requirements for tiers will be more critical to ProAdvisors in the future.

Even if you are a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, as has been the past practice, you will only be listed on the Find-a-ProAdvisor website if you earn a ‘Gold’ level tier status or higher.

Simply joining the ProAdvisor Program and earning your QuickBooks Online (core) Certification won’t get you listed in the Find-a-ProAdvisor directory.

And earning Gold status will be more difficult.  

Presently, the Tier levels are Silver (0-199 points), Gold (200-799 points), Platinum (800 - 1599 points) and Elite (1600+ points) as shown below.

The new Tier levels have substantially higher point requirements. Silver is going from 0-199 to 0-499. Gold will go from 200-799 points to 500 - 2399 points required. Platinum is changing from 800-1599 to 2400-6999 points required. Elite status is going from 1600+ points to 7000+ points. 

The new Tier level chart is shown below.

Earning Tier Points

Let’s look at the expanded ways you can earn points. But perhaps a review of the current point system is appropriate so you have a comparison view.

You can currently earn from 25 to 200 points with the most point-earning opportunities at the 50, 75, and 100 levels.

I’ve highlighted the value of current QuickBooks Online Certification in the above illustration. This was all you had to earn to be listed in the Find-a-ProAdvisor listing as a new ProAdvisor.

But now that 100 points won’t get you listed under the revisions because only ‘Gold’ or higher tier level ProAdvisors will be listed in Find-a-ProAdvisor.

So, how do you earn the new Gold-level requirement of a minimum of 500 points?  The chart below shows new earning opportunities.

While earning opportunities still range from 25 to 200 points, most focus on ‘active subscriptions.’ Nine out of fourteen earning opportunities contain the words ‘active’ and ‘subscriptions.’

This doesn’t surprise me; what’s missing from the list surprises me. I was expecting to see ‘Active QuickBooks Time’ client subscriptions, ‘Active QuickBooks Ledger’ subscriptions, ‘Active ProConnect Tax’ subscriptions, and ‘Active Intuit Tax Advisor’ subscriptions, along with ‘Active Mailchimp’ client subscriptions as part of the mix.

I also thought there would be points for those new ‘training modules’ (Banking and Reporting) and some ‘active subscriptions’ for partner (accountant-backed) Apps. These changes may be either a v2 or v3 implementation since more training modules are in the works and more of the partner apps are still in progress.

It seems it will be tough for a new ProAdvisor, especially one who has just started a ‘solo practice’ to earn active subscriptions if they are not in the Find-a-ProAdvisor listing.  

According to Insightful Accountant’s past analysis conducted as part of the Top 100 ProAdvisor formal applications, the primary source of identification of most ProAdvisors in any area when someone is looking for help with QuickBooks comes from the Find-a-ProAdvisor look-up.

But looking at the list, the quickest way for a new ProAdvisor to reach the ‘Gold’ tier and qualify for a Find-a-ProAdvisor listing is to earn QBO (core) Certification, QBO Advanced Certification, and QuickBooks Payroll Certification right in a row so they can get to the 500 minimum point level to obtain Gold tier status.

I personally would have preferred that every Certified ProAdvisor continue to be listed, but their ranking stature within their geo-location be based on their tier points. Murph

Tier Benefits

One of the past advantages of tiers is the distribution of benefits. The newly reimagined ProAdvisor program continues to make use of that concept.

  • Silver tier ProAdvisors get a New Badge but no Find-a-ProAdvisor listing. Tier members will also have access to new Accountant-approved 3rd-party Apps. Telephone support remains the same. Training opportunities remain the same with the addition of ProConnect Tax and the Accountant-approved Apps. Discounts are available to help you market yourself, like a year of Mailchimp at 75% off. Members will continue to receive QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time for their firms. They can also offer Client discounts on QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Payments. 

Remember, the Find-a-ProAdvisor Directory will now only publish Gold, Platinum, and Elite ProAdvisor profiles. For those who will potentially lose Gold status and be downgraded to Silver status, you will have 90 days (from the November 20, 2023 launch date of these changes) to get your point total up to 500 level before tier movement takes place.

  • Gold tier ProAdvisors get a New Badge and will continue to have a Find-a-ProAdvisor listing. New marketing opportunities for this tier include ecosystem and client templates. Gold members will also have elevated telephone support to the Premium level, previously only available to Platinum and Elite tiers. Members will continue to receive QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time for their firms. They also have Client discounts on QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Payments. 
  • Platinum is still a work in progress. While there is a New Badge, most changes for this tier will follow soon as part of v2. In addition to continuing to receive QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time for their firms and Client discounts on QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Payments, they will also receive deeper discounts for both ProConnect Tax and Intuit Tax Advisor.
  • Elite tier members can access a Firm Growth Consultation, giving them dedicated strategic support from Intuit’s account management team. This tier will also receive special events and discounts, including sweepstakes, contests, and networking opportunities.

So, you might ask, “What’s the fastest way to move between tiers?”

  • Going from Silver to Gold: Have at least one team member pass the QuickBooks Online, QBO Advanced, and QBO Payroll. Passing these exams will earn you and your team the 500 points needed to migrate from the silver to the gold tier.
  • Migrating from Gold to Platinum to Elite: Adopting the QuickBooks ecosystem by your entire team is the key to moving up in the tier system. The more QuickBooks products your clients use, the more points you and your team earn, and the more tier benefits you unlock.

Concluding Remarks

I’m hoping there will be some ‘tweaks’ and a variety of enhancements that will complement this new ProAdvisor Program roll-out. 

The ProAdvisor Community is QuickBooks, and QuickBooks is the ProAdvisor Community… the two have, for twenty-six years, gone hand-in-hand and will hopefully continue to do so for the next twenty-six. Murph

I’m confident that Intuit leaders like Ted Callahan, Tiffany Beltis, and Jim Dzundza know how important the ProAdvisor community views this Program as the source of mutual success.  A special thank you to them, and the rest of the Intuit team that has worked so hard to undertake and implement this reimagination.

I also believe that these leaders care about what you think, so they have also rolled out a new way for you to provide them with feedback. I encourage you to let them hear your comments using this unique feedback website.

I also want to say thanks to those ProAdvisors, accountants and bookkeepers who participated in the focus group(s) that contributed time and ideas toward this project; it's easy to overlook those who help foster the ideas that Intuit brings to fruition.

Where You Can Learn More

There are several places you can learn more about the reimagined ProAdvisor Program:

Disclosures

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