Shortly after the first of the year, Insightful Accountant announced the addition of two new Categorical Awards to the Top 100 ProAdvisor Program. Starting with 2023, we will recognize a QuickBooks Online Advanced – Mid-market Specialist Award and a QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise – Large Business Specialist Award.
As part of that announcement, I promised to pass along some additional information to help those who might consider themselves potential candidates for the new categorical awards.
I mentioned there were things you needed to know regarding questions asked during the official application process regarding your clients and the use of product features used to evaluate your standing relative to these award categories.
This article is intended to pass along those tips. This may be the first time we've discussed specific categorical criteria for any Insightful Accountant Top 100 awards.
Still, I felt it appropriate to help you understand how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in the application to pre-qualify candidates and determine potential eligibility by turning on additional questions to further evaluate your standing.
I've told you frequently that the official application form measures each ProAdvisor against a set of standards set for various award categories. That includes the two new categories.
Getting Ready for the QuickBooks Online Advanced – Mid-market Specialist Award
The first evaluation is pre-qualification based on specific criteria. This includes things like:
- Current QuickBooks Online-Advanced Certification
- Prior QuickBooks Online-Advanced Certification(s)
- The number of QuickBooks Online Advanced clients the ProAdvisor supports in their practice
- The percentage of practice represented by QBO-Advanced as part of the overall make-up of the ProAdvisor's practice
- How you, the ProAdvisor, identify your ProAdvisor practice: Do you primarily consider yourself a mid-market specialist supporting QuickBooks Online Advanced.
When you see questions in the official application that seek to evaluate you in these regards, you can be sure we're seeking answers that identify QuickBooks Online-Advanced and mid-market specialization as your primary focus if that's what defines you.
These criteria, answered in precisely the right way, pre-screen you as a QuickBooks Online Advanced – Mid-market Specialist and open a new question (similar to the one shown below) within this year's official application. Applicants answering the same questions differently won't see this new question for the award.
Once you have pre-qualified, you must verify that QuickBooks Online Advanced is your primary focus as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. You will be asked to confirm that QBO-Advanced represents at least 50% of your practice and you have 25 or more clients* using QuickBooks Online Advanced.
Please remember, this is the number of clients you actually support as a ProAdvisor, not the number of clients your firm or business supports as a whole.
If you tell us you don't meet the criteria, you will be returned to the next subject area in the official application form.
But your Yes confirmation turns on additional questions focused on this new Categorical Award.
QuickBooks Online Advanced focuses on the mid-market, and Intuit has defined and advertises to some specific mid-market segments. You may want to review this official Intuit website for information about the specific mid-market industries QBO-Advanced is marketed to so you can ensure you are prepared for this question.
This is because we will be asking you for information about the actual number of clients you have in each of these mid-market segments, so you must be prepared to provide this information.
We also will ask you about features that differentiate QuickBooks Online Advanced from other QBO products. To prepare for this, you might want to read the paragraph titled, QuickBooks Online Advanced in this Firm of the Future article to help you identify newer features.
Then, ensure you review the actual QuickBooks Online Advanced URL link within that same article to find a helpful list of the features that set QBO-Advanced apart from other QBO products.
Another question we will ask deals with the approximate implementation rates of your clients for these unique QBO-Advanced features. This question measures how you specialize in the product and mid-market features designed to bolster growing companies' business needs.
So you must have an idea (in approximate 25% ranges) of your client's implementation of the features Intuit specifies set QBO-Advanced apart from other QBO products.
2023 Top 100 ProAdvisor / ProAdvisor of the Year – Nomination Period Still Open
Nominations are still being accepted for the 2023 Top 100 ProAdvisor, ProAdvisor of the Year and ProAdvisor Categorical Awards. Nominations close on Feb. 15, 2023, at 11:59:59 p.m. (PST).
For nomination details, qualifications and the nomination form, visit this Insightful Accountant webpage.
Getting Ready for the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise – Large Business Specialist Award
Just as I discussed with the QuickBooks Online Advanced award, the first phase of evaluation for the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise – Large Business Specialist award is pre-qualification based upon specific criteria. This includes things like:
- Current QuickBooks Desktop Certification
- Current QuickBooks Enterprise Certification
- Prior QuickBooks Enterprise Certification(s)
- The number of QuickBooks Enterprise clients the ProAdvisor supports in their practice,
- The percentage of practice represented by QuickBooks Enterprise as part of the overall make-up of the ProAdvisor's practice, and
- How you, the ProAdvisor, identify your ProAdvisor practice: Do you primarily consider yourself a Large Business Specialist supporting QuickBooks Enterprise.
Assuming you consider yourself a QuickBooks Enterprise specialist, you will want to make sure you stay on the lookout for questions in the official application form that evaluate these criteria.
Remember, we are looking for answers that identify QuickBooks Enterprise and specialization in larger and more complex businesses as your primary focus as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
The cooking phrase, "the secret is in the sauce" almost should be applied here. With the right recipe, these criteria pre-screen you as a QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise – Large Business Specialist and open a question related exclusively to this new categorical award within the official application form.
Applicants answering the same questions differently won't even see the new award-related question (similar to the one shown below).
Once you pre-qualify, you must verify that QuickBooks Enterprise is your primary focus as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. You will be asked to confirm that QuickBooks Enterprise represents at least 50% of your practice and that you have 25 or more clients* using QuickBooks Enterprise.
Please remember, this is the number of clients you actually support as a ProAdvisor, not the number of clients your firm or business supports as a whole.
If you tell us you don't meet these criteria, you automatically are redirected to the next subject area in the official application form.
But if you answer Yes, additional questions specific to this new Categorical Award are turned-on for you to answer.
QuickBooks Enterprise allows larger companies to manage more of their business requirements by offering best-in-class accounting, inventory management, reporting, price rules, job costing, payroll, time tracking, and more. Depending on the version of Enterprise, businesses not only can select from these features, but also support up to 40 simultaneous users.
We will ask you about the number of clients you have using each QuickBooks Enterprise version (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond). You must be prepared to provide information about this aspect of your QuickBooks Enterprise ProAdvisor practice since this information helps us evaluate feature-sets supported and average client size based upon the ratio of users to versions.
Because most ProAdvisors recommend QuickBooks Enterprise based on specific features within the various versions, we ask about your approximate client implementation rates for many of the most significant Enterprise features.
You may want to review this QuickBooks Enterprise URL link for features that set it apart from other products. Also, be sure to check out this QuickBooks Enterprise 'Diamond' URL link for information on additional productivity tools found only in that version.
Relative to award scoring, your implementation of these advanced Enterprise features across your client base exemplifies how you specialize in the product and support larger companies in managing their business requirements.
So you need to have an idea (in approximate 25% ranges) of your implementation of the client features Intuit specifies set QuickBooks Enterprise apart from other QuickBooks products.
To Sum It Up
I've tried to give you a few tips and tricks to help you with these new categories if you think you might qualify for consideration. But, as with all of the questions in our official application form, your answers are yours. I cannot interpret what you intend when you answer questions; I can only go by the answers you provide.
Suppose you specify an answer that 61%-80% of your practice is made up of QuickBooks Enterprise, yet, you never report having a current QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Enterprise certification. Don't blame me if you don't qualify for consideration toward the new QuickBooks Enterprise Categorical award.
I could formulate a similarly odd example for the new QuickBooks Online Advanced category, but hopefully, you get the idea.
If you claim to be a 'purebred,' you had better be true to the bloodline because I'm confident we've built a reasonably sound tool for measuring your ProAdvisor DNA.
(Murph)
*-References to ‘number of clients’ herein, for either QuickBooks Online Advanced or QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, refer to clients to whom you are actually providing “service and support”. Clients you are ‘wholesale billing’ or otherwise providing with sales services exclusively do not qualify under this this provision. You must actually be providing other ProAdvisor services to clients for them to be included in your client counts.
Nominations Still Being Accepted for 2023 Top 100 ProAdvisor / ProAdvisor of the Year
You are not too late to participate in the 2023 Top 100 ProAdvisor, ProAdvisor of the Year and ProAdvisor Categorical Awards process.
Nominations remain open between now and Feb. 15, 2023, at 11:59:59 p.m. (PST).
For nomination details, qualifications and a link to the nomination form, visit this Insightful Accountant webpage.
Insightful Accountant's ProAdvisor of the Year, the Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards and the related ProAdvisor Categorical Awards would not be possible without the support of these sponsors:
Disclosures
As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and QuickBooks ProAdvisors refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.; a NASDAQ publicly traded "INTU" corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California (USA).
Any or all other trade names used herein, including any other vendor (app/software) products discussed within this article, may be registered, trademarked or otherwise held by their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged. They have been referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. No vendor within this article has paid Insightful Accountant or the author any remuneration to be included within this feature. This article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
Publication of this article does not represent an endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.
Note: Registered Trademark ® and Copyright © symbols have been eliminated wherever practical from this article for brevity due to the frequency or abundance with which they might otherwise appear or be repeated. Every attempt is made to credit such trademarked products or copyrighted materials within the respective article footnotes and disclosures.
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