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This past Wednesday, June 24th, Insightful Accountant held a special edition webinar which hosted both QBTalks (US) and QBTalks Canada. The webinar explored everything from regional ProAdvisor benefits to QuickBooks Online product differences. The best way to share ProAdvisor experiences and product knowledge is to pull in knowledge from the community. Lucky I was asked to be one of the four guests.

I don't know why Liz refers to herself as one of four guests, as far as I am concerned these four were 'the stars of the show'!!! (Murph)
Our focus was to share how features differences of QuickBooks Online US and Canada could affect working with cross-border clients. To give a Canadian perspective Marnie Stretch, CPB and Ester Friedberg Karp, MBA, CPB joined us. For the US vantage point Kelly Gonsalves, and myself (Liz Scott) shared.
Where we started was Intuit’s TWN (Trainer Writer Network) program. All four of us are members of an Intuit group which produces, and shares content including the certifications, live events, webinars, and blogs.
Insightful Accountant Top 100 includes both US and Canadian award recognition and winners. The Insightful Accountant award is agreed to be one of the most prestigious, sought after awards a ProAdvisors can receive. Kelly, Marnie, and Esther each shared how their careers changed after being awarded both a spot in the top 100 and top 10 ProAdvisors. The validation and credibility the honor gives is one which helps gain client’s trust.

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ProAdvisor Program
There were several areas of the ProAdvisor Program we discussed but mostly certifications.
In the US we are extremely fortunate to have a large variety of certifications. Unless you are aware other areas of the world do not have this same luxury, it’s easy to take all the training for granted.

We here in the US have QuickBooks training so easily at our fingertips in almost every flavor and by almost every method... even our friends in Canada do not have such luxury. Outside North American this training is very difficult to come by, it is only now starting to expand into other parts of the world. (Murph)
Meanwhile, the Canadian Certification’s are limited to:
- Desktop (one and done) - there is no annual renewal currently required
- Online Core Certification (one and done) - again no annual renewal required
- Online Advanced Certifications (one and done) - no annual renewal
- No:
- Point of Sale
- Enterprise
- Advanced Desktop (never was offered in Canada)
The reason for the certification difference is mainly resources.
Working with QuickBooks Online and Cross-boarder Clients
For the most part QuickBooks Online is consistent across all global SKUs but there are a few areas to be aware. Here are a few tricks for working in the different locations.
Different Intuit IDs Required!
Because there are product differences you need two Intuit IDs. When you login to QuickBooks Online based on the ID used the correct QuickBooks Online Product will open.
Esther shared her favorite tip for working with cross-boarder clients. Based on her experience she has discovered the best practice for creating two different Intuit ID is to use the goggle email trick. (this works best if you are already a goggle email user)
The trick is to use Gmail alias “+” or “.” to create notional extra email addresses that feed into one email account. Examples:
- myname+canada@gmail.com or myname.canada@gmail.com
- myname.us@gmail.com or myname.us@gmail.com
- ...all feed into myname@gmail.com but are recognized by sites as different emails addresses

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Sign up for QuickBooks Online Canada Accountant and Test Drive the Product.
- Sign up for QBOA Canada at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/accountants/ using different email address for Canadian Intuit ID
OR:
- QBO Canada test drive company TinyURL.com/canadasample or through QBOA
Sign up for QuickBooks Online US Accountant and Test Drive the Products.

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- Sign up for QBOA US at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accountants/ using different email address for US Intuit ID
OR:
- QBO US test drive company https://intuit.me/2VbOoNT or through QBOA
- QBO Advanced US test drive company https://intuit.me/2zWCFv5
Big and Small Product Differences

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Canadians can choose their QuickBooks UI Language

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Multi-language support means:
- English or French
- Account and Settings > Company > Language
- Affects all users of that QBO Company
No QuickBooks Online Advances in Canada… even though:

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They still have some QBO-Advanced features in their 'QBO', but some things we take for granted in non-QBO Advanced they don't have...
- Some QBO Advanced features are included in QBO Canada
- No account and class / location limits at this point
- Can import invoices, journal entries and bills in Easy Start, Essentials and Plus
Canada also has…
- Essentials & Plus clients on wholesale billing can have 999 users (not the regular 3 or 5 and no, that is not a misprint)
- Improvements to multi-currency reporting (recent)
- Foreign pricing on product/service items (coming)
Canada does not have…
- Customer Types
- Price Rules
- Gratuities
- Tagging (we haven’t seen it yet, but we know it’s coming)
Canada uses Bank Feeds differently… but why?
- “Bookkeeping by bank feed” in Canada is not recommended
- Does not carry enough weight for audits

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- Canadian businesses need receipts as we can deduct taxes paid on expenses (ITC’s or Input Tax Credits) from taxes collected on sales
- Tax rates vary by province/territory and need to be reviewed for each receipt
- Canadians don’t use Bank Feed Rules as widely as in the US due to ITC’s.
Both US and Canada now have multilingual invoicing

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- In the Language tab for the customer: 6 languages from which to choose for invoicing
- Invoices only, not Estimates, Credit Memos, or other sales related forms
Just as 'we', despite a few differences 'the products' are so much alike.

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Serving clients is a real possibility to many ProAdvisors. Many, close to the border entrepreneurs, choose to have entries is both US and Canada. Knowing how to work with these clients will keep you moving forward.
The goal during the webinar was to explore product differences and explore explanations as to why and to be aware of and best practices for working around.
One thing we ProAdvisors all have in common is our desire to help one another to learn more about this webinar you can view the recording or reach out to many of the social platforms and find out more.