Advice on Choosing a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and Other Small Buisness Tips: Interview with Ruth Perryman
Posted by Allison Semancik on Thu, Nov 12, 2009
Ruth Perryman is the president of The QB Specialists. She is a Certified Advanced Quickbooks ProAdvisor, an Intuit Solutions Provider, and a member of Intuit's Trainer/Writer Network. Ruth has over 19 years of industry experience including 5 years as a Chief Financial Officer, and has been working with Quickbooks since 1996. She specializes in customizing QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Point of Sale/POS, and also provides virtual controller and CFO services.
What does a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor do and what kind of training do they go through to become one?
The QuickBooks Advanced Certification Course is designed to deepen the expertise of ProAdvisors who are already knowledgeable in QuickBooks, and distinguish these "QuickBooks experts" as highly proficient in this field. To ensure the foundational knowledge and experience of ProAdvisors who are eligible for Advanced Certification, Intuit requires that they:
- Complete the three most recent QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certification Courses
- Pass the QuickBooks Advanced Certification exam with a score of 85% or higher
- Complete a bi-annual Continuing Education requirement
The exam is extremely difficult. I don't know of a single ProAdvisor who didn't struggle with it, including me and my team, no matter how experienced they are. Unlike the regular certification exams, it's not multiple-choice and if you don't pass it within 5 tries you have to wait a year to re-take it.
Because of its difficulty, you can be assured that you are hiring one of the top QuickBooks ProAdvisors in your area.
When do you think a business owner needs a QuickBooks ProAdvisor?
Every small b
usiness owners should be working with a certified ProAdvisor. It's important to note that not all ProAdvisors are certified. Uncertified ProAdvisors simply pay an annual fee to be included in the program.
Small businesses will save considerable time and expense if they spend an hour or two with a ProAdvisor before they start using QuickBooks. QuickBooks appears to be really easy to use and "intuitive", and it is as long as you use it the way it's designed to be used. If you accidentally skip a step, it can cause big problems in your data file that can be expensive to correct. Some common examples are paying sales tax or payroll liabilities with a check instead of a liability check, entering customer deposits and/or vendor bill payments directly into the check register, and not handling transactions paid with a credit card correctly.
Certified ProAdvisors can help you setup QuickBooks for your specific needs, train you to use QuickBooks correctly, and even more importantly, be your resource for ongoing questions and troubleshooting. I can often answer a question that might take a new user several hours to figure out in less than 10 mins.
What do you feel are the most important aspects to consider when choosing a QuickBooks ProAdvisor?
Do not assume that all ProAdvisors are certified, and though there are certifications for certain versions, like Enterprise and Point of Sale, there aren't yet for certain industries. So if you are a contractor who needs to do job costing, make sure you select a certified ProAdvisor who is experienced with this aspect of QuickBooks. The setup and training is entirely different than for companies that don't do job costing.
In other words, like any other important vendor relationship you are considering, make sure to check credentials and ask for references from other businesses in your industry.
On your blog, you offer great QuickBooks tips to QuickBooks users. If you could give one piece of advice to new QuickBooks users, what would it be?
Don't take shortcuts! QuickBooks is easy to use, but you're going to get into trouble if you don't use it as it's designed to be used.
What online resources do you recommend for small business owners?
I love Intuit's new Small Business Events. It not only offers free training on QuickBooks from some of the top experts from around the country, but also general business training. For instance, I've provided free training on not only QuickBooks job costing but also using social media effectively and how to choose between employees vs. independent contractors.
Intuit's Live Community is also a wonderful resource to get free answers to your QuickBooks questions. Just keep in mind that though many top experts volunteer to answer questions, your question may also be answered by someone who doesn't know much more about Quickbooks than you do. So look for certain designations - Intuit Solutions Provider, Advanced Certified ProAdvisor, Certified ProAdvisor, and my personal favorite, Community Allstar which is only given by Intuit to contributors who have given a lot of good answers. I'm proud to have all four!
tips photo: rachaelvoorhees