In this edition of my Top 100 2024 Clues’ article, I want to examine the various QuickBooks Certifications available to domestic applicants, as they are currently available. I will write a future article on international applicant certifications.
Please understand that these certifications are under the auspices of Intuit and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program, which are subject to change at any time between now and the 2024 official Top 100 application form next spring.
Definitions:
- Top 100 Awards Process – the procedures and process whereby Insightful Accountant’s ProAdvisor of the Year, Top 100 ProAdvisors, the ProAdvisor Categorical Awards, and the Top Up-N-Coming ProAdvisors are selected and recognized.
- Minimum certification requirement – to participate in the Top 100 Awards Process, nominees from the US must hold one or more current Intuit US ProAdvisor (Online or Desktop) certifications.
- Recognized Intuit US ProAdvisor Certifications meeting the minimum requirement – based upon current Intuit certification offerings, Insightful Accountant recognizes only QuickBooks Online Certification, QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification and QuickBooks Desktop Certification.
- Intuit US ProAdvisor Certifications “not” meeting the minimum requirement – the following QuickBooks ProAdvisor ancillary certifications, while recommended as part of total certification ranking, do not meet the minimum requirements: QuickBooks Online Payroll Certification, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise Certification, and QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale 19.0 Certification.
QuickBooks Online (Core) Certification
For ProAdvisors, this certification covers the essential processes and functions to help support clients using QuickBooks Online, and assist you in managing your work and team as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
A current QuickBooks Online Certification is considered the minimum certification a ProAdvisor can possess to participate in the Top 100 process.
So, you ask, “What is current? Does that mean the latest offering of the exam?” The Insightful Accountant answer is “no.” For the Top 100 process, current is considered any QuickBooks Online Certification issued on or after the beginning of the year preceding the Awards Year.
With respect to the Top 100 2024 Awards Year, a current certification will be considered any QuickBooks Online Certification issued on or after Jan. 1, 2023.
However, Insightful Accountant also recognizes that not all certificates are equal. Accordingly, during the 2024 Top 100 process certification valuation points will be computed based on:
- A certification issued after Jan. 1, 2024, (or a later date as determined by Insightful Accountant within the formal application) will receive the highest value.
- Any such certification issued on or after April 25, 2023, will receive the next highest value.
- Any such certification issued between April 24, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2023, will receive the minimum value.
This scoring practice ensures that ProAdvisors who maintain the most current certifications available score higher in this requirement.
You might wonder, “Do I need a current QuickBooks Online (Core) Certification if I have a current QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification.” At present, the formal answer is “no.” A QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification meets the minimum certification requirements for the Top 100 process.
With that said, Insightful Accountant recommends, for Top 100 scoring purposes, that you maintain both a current QuickBooks Online (Core) Certification, even though you hold a current QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification.
Points are awarded for current status (as defined above) for both certifications.
So, even though Intuit advises QuickBooks Online Advanced ProAdvisors, they are not required to take QuickBooks Online (Core) Certification. If they hold QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification or recertify in QuickBooks Online Advanced, you will earn more points under Insightful Accountant’s Top 100 process if both certifications are ‘most current.’
Now that we’ve covered how certification points are awarded for current certification, let’s look at the 2023 application results.
- 7.28% of the Top 100 applicants reported their current certifications had been issued after Feb. 28, 2023. These applicants received the maximum QBO certification points available.
- 13.25% of the Top 100 applicants reported that their current certification had been issued before Jan. 1, 2023 (but limited to no earlier than Jan. 1, 2022). These applicants received the next highest number of QBO certification points available.
- 79.47% of the Top 100 applicants reported that their current certification had been issued on or after Jan. 1, 2022. These applicants received the minimum QBO certification points available.
You may also be wondering about prior QuickBooks Online certification credit. The Insightful Accountant Top 100 process awards points each year an applicant holds QuickBooks Online Certification. For example, applicants during the 2023 Top 100 process reported:
- 38.73% since 2013
- 12.68% since 2014
- 7.75 since 2015
- 9.15% since 2016
- 6.34% since 2017
- 11.27% since 2018
- 3.52% since 2019
- 4.23% since 2020
- 6.34% since 2021
A descending number of past certification credit points per year are awarded for each year certification was held. For example, if individuals held certification since 2020, they would have received points for 2021 and points for 2020; the combined results represent their prior past certification credit points, but only if they reported current certification for QuickBooks Online Certification.
My next article will look at QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Desktop certifications.
Disclosures:
As used herein, QuickBooks®, QuickBooks ProAdvisor (Program), QuickBooks Online (product and certification), QuickBooks Online Advanced (product and certification) and QuickBooks Desktop (product and certification) may refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Some feature content and graphic materials may have been adapted from Intuit source content including QuickBooks ProAdvisor related certification resource materials. Source content and materials have been adapted and are furnished for educational purposes only by Insightful Accountant.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. No vendor within this article has paid Insightful Accountant or the author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
Neither the publication of this article, nor inclusion of any product herein, represents any endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.
Note: Registered Trademark ® symbols have been eliminated from the articles within this publication for brevity due to the frequency or abundance with which they would otherwise appear or be repeated. Every attempt is made to credit such trademarked products within our respective article footnotes and disclosures.
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