Industry-leading news source Insightful Accountant is announcing two additional changes to the 2026 Awards cycle, beginning this July.
Insightful Accountant previously announced a change for the 2026 Awards regarding the return to a single QuickBooks Desktop category within the U.S. Awards Group.
We are proud to announce two additional changes impacting the awards structure for the awards cycle scheduled to begin this July.
Increased Recognition for Mid-market ProAdvisors
Over the last few years, Insightful Accountant has seen a measurable increase in ProAdvisors participating in the Awards process who support the "mid-market" using QuickBooks Online Advanced. In response, we created the QuickBooks Online-Advanced "Mid-market" Specialist awards category just two years ago. However, with the release of Intuit's Enterprise Suite product, there is an increased opportunity for ProAdvisors to transition clients to that new product from other QuickBooks products like QuickBooks Enterprise or even QBO-Advanced.
As a result, Insightful Accountant will change the QuickBooks Online Advanced categorical award to incorporate objective measures for Intuit Enterprise Suite into the scoring. Based on these revisions, we are also renaming the QBO-Advanced category to the "Mid-Market Advisor" category.
In addition, ProAdvisors specializing in the mid-market, whether they use QBO-Advanced or Intuit Enterprise Suite, will have twice the opportunity to receive recognition since the number of allocated placeholders for this new category is being doubled within the U.S. Top 100 awards for 2026.
Establishment of new Tax Advisor Awards
The last few years have seen the Up-n-Coming ProAdvisor and International ProAdvisor award categories within the Top 100 transition to separate Award Groups. For 2026, Insightful Accountant is announcing a new Award Group to recognize "Tax Advisors".
Two factors have contributed to this decision. First, a consistently growing number of U.S. ProAdvisors have been documenting a tax focus within their formal applications. Second, formal tax training and credentialing recently became available through the "Intuit Academy."
Insightful Accountant believes the time has come to recognize tax professionals who strive to become the 'best of the best' in offering tax services, regardless of QuickBooks ProAdvisor status. But, including non-ProAdvisor Tax practitioners within the Top 100 ProAdvisor awards wouldn't be appropriate.
"Establishing a new tax-focused Award Group allows for the recognition of both ProAdvisors with a tax practice and other (non-ProAdvisor) tax advisors. Including the tax group within the U.S. application form, like the Up-n-Comer group, allows each individual to participate in the tracks in which they score the best."
A single application form for the U.S. Awards (Top 100, Up-n-comer, and Tax Advisor) simplifies documenting the related requirements, as many of the same objective measures apply across both sets of award criteria.
While nothing requires Intuit Academy participants to earn ProAdvisor certification, nothing prevents ProAdvisors from participating in the Intuit Academy tax training and credentialing.
When asked if a ProAdvisor could potentially be recognized under Top 100 and the new Tax Advisor group, William Murphy, the Awards Administrator, responded, "Nothing precludes a ProAdvisor meeting the requirements for the ProAdvisor Awards from also being recognized within the Tax Advisor Awards if they meet both the scoring requirements in any single year."
Regarding the changes, Gary DeHart, Publisher of Insightful Accountant, said, "Murph has done a great job over the years of ensuring the awards program changes to reflect the changes taking place in the marketplace. The expanded "Mid-market" category and the addition of the "Tax Awards" represent two more market-driven changes. We look forward to adding tax and identifying the 'best of the best' in tax for 2026."
A maximum of twenty-five Tax Advisors will be recognized within the 2026 list of Top Tax Advisors. One of the twenty-five will also be recognized as Tax Advisor of the Year.
Insightful Accountant will provide additional information regarding this new award group before the opening of the 2026 awards cycle this July.