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Don't you just love those 'Indiana Jones'1 movies? The latest opened several weeks ago in theaters around the world, earning millions of dollars because people are always interested in the thrill of the quest.
But if you had the same enthusiasm for your quest for the Top 100 that Indiana Jones did, you already would be on the list of the "best of the best."
And for those of you already on this year's Top 100, remember, you have to earn your Top 100 status every year, not to mention your "quest for a categorical award or ProAdvisor of the Year."
I view my job as the clue giver to bolster your enthusiasm for Top 100 by sharing clues, just like Indiana Jones typically has when he begins a new quest.
So, in continuing our series, I want us to examine the importance of training.
To do this, I will share one of my quotes from the award recipient's story, "Connie excelled in the professional standards, practice expertise, Canadian ProAdvisor training, international certifications and the international group of apps within this year's rankings."
Now, don't let the fact that I selected an international candidate dissuade you from reading the rest of this article because the concepts are just as valid, regardless of your status as a domestic or international ProAdvisor.
I will begin by discussing some scoring data in a percentage of maximum points available, not the actual number of points. I'm doing this so you can see the relative value of these scores against the standard because we are continuously measuring applicants against the standards, not other applicants.
I'm also going to start at the bottom of the Training Section of the official questionnaire with two that many applicants ignored, even though they later would voice concerns over not participating in any of the training we listed.
The Two Training Wrap-up Questions
Below is question 47, which asks about (Non-CPE course) training hours.
While the question numbers are not shown when you complete the application form, I assure you this question, as replicated below, is exactly the same as it appeared in your questionnaire for 2023.
Our award winner scored in the 87th percentile for the maximum number of training hours we held to be the "standard" among ProAdvisors for 2023.
Much of the same is true for question 46, which covers CPE-awarded training opportunities not explicitly listed elsewhere in the training section.
Our award winner scored in the 86th percentile of the maximum CPEs held as the "standard" among 2023 ProAdvisors.
The point here is simple: If you elect to take training that isn't listed in our approved classes, training sessions and webinars based upon how their content applies to the various categorical awards, you better make sure you are either earning CPEs for the training you are, or you are accurately tracking the hours you participated in other training.
Intuit Virtual Events
Intuit has provided a series of virtual events for the last several years. They might be called virtual conferences, boot camps or live virtual events. Some of these are even available on a country-specific basis, while others allow global attendance.
Several questions in the 2023 official application were directly related to these virtual Intuit events. As an example, look at question No. 42 (shown below).
These virtual events are great ways to earn mega points toward the Top 100 Award standards because they apply to multiple Award categories.
Even if you are certified in QuickBooks Online Advanced and still are not close to your re-registration deadline, sitting in on the entire QuickBooks Online (Core) certification cannot only help ensure you are up to date on the newest product aspects, but it can earn you a bundle of training points.
By the way, our international candidate garnered herself sufficient points through attendance at such events to be ranked in the 82nd percentile of the 2023 "standard" for ProAdvisors on these questions.
Country Specific Training
While international ProAdvisors are participating in categories uniquely designed around their Intuit Region, like the Americas, many choose to participate in what Insightful Accountant defines as global events.
For example, QuickBooks Connect (US) is such an event because it draws global attendance.
Yet, Insightful Accountant understands that many international candidates cannot participate in such global events because of travel and time requirements or limitations.
For this reason, Insightful Accountant also asks questions about country-specific training events we try to list for both event and session-specific scoring credits.
The following is an example of such a country-specific event:
Our candidate from the Americas, representing Canada for 2023 was at the 86th percentile regarding her rating on this event and the sessions she participated in.
You might think, "country-specific training events are fine for International candidates but what about us here in the US?" Need I remind you of "Scaling New Heights 2022," and the more than 28 specific training sessions from that event, appearing on the official application as just one such example.
Final Thoughts
It does not matter if you are from Los Angeles, New York City, Lotsee (Oklahoma), Fordwich (in east Kent, England), Toronto (Canada), Gironde (of Bordeaux, France), Sydney (Australia) or anywhere in between the world over; you have plenty of training opportunities available to you as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor that can land you in the Top 100 if you maximize those opportunities.
You can expect to see changes in the official application form for 2024, but those changes will be primarily structural in nature. We will be striving to list the training opportunities from around the globe that QuickBooks ProAdvisors have access to.
Fundamentally, our approach at measuring your participation in those training opportunities will not change, nor will the importance of training within Insightful Accountant's Top 100 standards.
Between now and the end of 2023, you have multitudes of opportunities for training the world over.
You, too, can go on a mighty quest like Indiana Jones. Don't pass up webinars, virtual events and conferences, and other opportunities within a reasonable distance. All those points add up and can significantly impact your "quest for the Top 100."
Footnotes and Disclosures
1 - Indiana Jones is an American movie franchise based on a series of films (and other related merchandise) that depicts the quests of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology (thus far portrayed by Harrison Ford) wherein the character was created for the first film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" released in 1981 by Lucasfilm, Ltd. The first four films were created by George Lucas and were produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. The Indiana Jones logo (as displayed within this article) is the trademarked property of Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC and is used for educational and information purposes only by Insightful Accountant.
As used herein, QuickBooks® and QuickBooks ProAdvisor refer to registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Other trade names used herein may refer to products which are registered, trademarked or otherwise held by their respective owners; they are 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 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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