ProAdvisor is a bit like being Sage Certified. It doesn't mean you are an accountant or bookkeeper, just that you know how to use their software to an acceptable level. Actually, ProAdvisor doesn't even mean that. It is a program you buy into for about £33 per month and for that you get a few versions of the software, free training to become certified, free support, payroll software, the ability to sell at a discount (this is a discount of Intuit prices, you can normally find it cheaper on Amazon or staples) and your name on their directory.
As more and more people move from Sage to QuickBooks then being a ProAdvisor is likely to help with employment or self employment, but you wont get a job on the back of this alone, nor will it really help with other qualifications.
This is not to say it's not worth it, if you are running a bookkkeeping or accounting service it's very worth it, but as an individual I'd say no.
The study to become qualified is based on online learning through texts and videos with an exam at the end.
This answer is more to do with the ACCA line than the Quickbooks advisor query although I cover both.
The pro advisor program gives access to quickbooks training materials but there are plenty of those avalable on Youtube anyway.
Like yourself I toyed with the idea. You get the latest software for yourself plus other software to give to clients.
Being part of the program you get mention in the find a pro advisor program. I would be interested to hear whether anyone has picked up any work through that route.
As for how it links to your ACCA.
There is no issue. Quickbooks is essentially a bookkeeping package and under regulation 8 you can offer bookkeeping to trail balance, VAT and Payroll services provided that you make no mention of your affiliation to the ACCA.
Give ACCA at least to paper F4 before you consider giving up.
Doing the foundation level gives you a firm grounding that can also be used as exemptions from the basic papers of other bodies.
Conversely I know that you would not be alone if you were to abandon the qualification. There is no shame in giving up on ACCA as the level of study and time commitment required does come as quite a shock to many.
I remember sitting the first paper. There were two huge halls in Birmingham alone each filled with a couple of thousand people sitting the first paper (then 1.1). By paper F4 there is one smaller hall with several different papers being sat at the same time.
At least give it the first three before making your decision. I won't tell you that it gets easier. It doesn't, it gets much, much harder. BUT. There is a reason that you set out on this path and that reason is those letters after your name. Not many reach that far. At least give your go at it a fighting chance.
Don't forget to use the free lectures on Opentuition to drive your ACCA studies.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I recently joined the Quickbooks ProAdvisor programme. I already had the accountant version of the software from having attended their seminar last year so I didn't need that but they had a half price for a year offer and for me it was worth doing it as I needed the payroll software anyway and it was cheaper to be a proadvisor than to buy payroll on its own. I did the training and exam to become certified last week. There are about 5 webinars to watch and then there is a multiple choice survey monkey test of about 75 questions. You need to get 85% to pass. You have a few hours to do it so you can google the answers. Having said that I did do the webinars and they were useful. You get 2 attempts at the test for free and each attempt after that costs £50 (there is a maximum number of times you can try, 5 I think). When you pass the exam you get a nice little logo to put on your website and that logo appears on your record on their ProAdvisor list. I am the only certified ProAdvisor in the town where I live so I'm hoping that if anyone ever looks at the list around here they might ring me first.
You get a copy of Pro which you can sell on. Have a look at ebay and you will see lots of proadvisors selling their Pro versions! So that recoups some of the cost of being part of the programme.
I have only been on their site for a few weeks but haven't got any work out of it yet. I would be interested to know if anyone else has.
Being part of the program you get mention in the find a pro advisor program. I would be interested to hear whether anyone has picked up any work through that route.
This is an interesting one, Shaun. I haven't had a single lead from it, so had a look at my listing last night. Beleive it or not it has fallen off sometime in the last year. I called today and they can't find me on their system. Obviously not connected to their banking system which finds me every month.
May be worthwhile for other ProAdvisors to check their listing.
Well, there went 90% of the reason for being part of the program!
I had the same issue with my BKN member listing. No idea how long it had been missing for and pure fluke that I checked on my listing entry as it's one of those things that once there you just think that it would never not be. In that instance Steve got it sorted within a couple of hours.
So, whilst checking your Proadvisor listings also check your other advertising,
all the best,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
thanks for the replies probably when I am ready I will try it for a year, especially if as someone said I would need to purchase payroll and uptodate versions anyway.