In our search to find the 'best Advisors on the Planet', Insightful Accountant has once again taken the time to rework key components of both the U.S. and International Advisor Application form to streamline and enhance the forms in order to make them simpler and less time consuming.
If you've ever been involved in the Top Advisor Awards process, you know that our 'Formal Application' is the key to measuring the stature of every Advisor against a rigorous set of standards. The goal is to always evaluate each Advisor, not against their fellow Advisors, but against the applicable standards. The U.S. Application has been more than 25 pages in length with hundreds of questions (or question parts) in the past. Even so, not a single Advisor must answer every question because the questions populate to each Applicant's form based on their answers to other questions. In simple, some answers turn-on additional questions, and some answers turn-of questions.
But this year's Application Forms will have a new look. As you can see below, the application form now occupies the entire width of your browser window. This means that more of each question, and the possible answers are visible without having to 'tab right' to find answers hidden by your browser's right margin. This should save hours of time simply by reducing efforts to locate all the questions' answers you couldn't find before.
This year, we've streamlined the form to preclude an applicant from having to answer unnecessary questions. This is especially so for those U.S. Applicants returning to the 2027 process having completed a 2026 Application Form as you can see in the figure below.
With limited exceptions, including 'Tax Practices' and 'Ecosystem (Apps/Software), all of the questions needed to update your information from your 2026 application are contained on a single page of this year's application. You can effectively eliminate as many as a dozen, or more, pages if you check the "I choose to only update the information I specify below and other required application questions" (highlighted in the yellow box above). But the choice is yours; if you want to complete an entirely new form this year, simply ignore this checkbox when it is exposed to you.
Let's look at another area that's been substantially streamlined for all U.S. QuickBooks ProAdvisors (a similiar restructuring has also been made for International Applicants). We've been told how difficult it is to list all of your training, one course or session at a time. Well guess what? That's no longer the case, and that applies to every applicant, not just 2026 update candidates.
We have a totally new reporting experience for 2027. With a few check boxes, and four (or five, at most) fill in the 'total hours' boxes, you can be done with the training section in minutes, not hours. We give U.S. Advisors a list of major conferences, just check the boxes for those you attended. The we ask you to post the 'total hours' by training types (Live Events, Virtual Live Events, Recorded Instruction, and Self-paced training). No itemized list, just compute the hours, 1 hour for every CPE or CE, and hour-for-hour for those trainings where your certificates of completion list time in lieu of CPE or CE. A few examples are shown in the large image below.
Similar training revisions have been made to the 'Tax Advisor' page with a focus on the most common training opportunities made available by the IRS, State CPA Associations, and other Tax-training organizations. Just check the boxes, or report 'total hours', no more listing of classes, webinars or symposium details.
International Advisors will also find they have a new 'Training Reporting Experience" that mimics the U.S. Application changes.
We've made another changed based on your input. This one should help you speed your way through one of the largest and most complex areas of the application... the QuickBooks Ecosystem of Apps and Software. A lot of advisors have lost valuable points because they chose 'not to complete' the section of the application requiring the listing of specific apps, and how you interacted with them.' Well, we didn't eliminate the opportunity to earn points from those details, but we are introducing a new 'intermediary step' between the generalities of working with Apps, and all details (and time) required to 'write-in' specific apps.
For 2027, you can earn valuable points by simply 'checking the boxes' for various 'App Categories; everything from A/P Automation (Bill Pay) to Workflow Integration, from Backup Apps to Time-tracking Apps, from Document Management Apps to Payments (Merchant Services) Apps, from Field-service Apps to Manufacturing Apps, as the figure below depicts.
Each checkbox earns you valuable points, but it does more than that. If you choose to provide more details, then you still have the opportunity to 'list specific Apps (or software) for each of the App Categories that you turned-on by indicating you Use, Refer, are Certified in, or Support/Implement. It's no longer an 'all or nothing' proposition, you can now choose to earn 'partial credit', or "go for all the marbles."
And lastly, let me say, that the infamous 'Save and Continue Later' feature that has caused difficulties in the past, seems to have had all the kinks worked out by Zoho technicians (that support the survey tool we use for the application form). However, with that said, it is still "up to you" to SAVE that valuable email you get with the link back to your 'saved' application form.
Hopefully, all of this sounds as "exciting to you" as it does to us here at Insightful Accountant. We are only hours away from the launch of the 2027 Top Advisor Awards, so stay tuned. Check our headlines every day, because the clock is counting down to 'Blastoff' toward your being recognized as one of the "Top Advisors on the Planet."