Accounting professionals offer significant value to their clients, such as providing accurate information in a timely manner. But, what about going a step further by taking a closer look at your clients’ data and sharing valuable insights to help them better manage their business goals? As you examine your clients’ needs beyond basic accounting, consider expanding your practice by growing your value-added advisory services.

To support your journey to becoming an advisor, the QuickBooks ProAdvisor® Program has launched an on-demand training series. This free training is designed to help you develop the knowledge and skills to help you become an insightful advisor.

The training is divided into three parts and consists of 15 hours of video content brought to you by industry thought leaders, including Hector Garcia, Geni Whitehouse, Laura Redmond, Helina Patience, and Heather Satterley. You can access the training, which qualifies for up to 14.5 hours of CPE from the ProAdvisor training tab on QuickBooks Online Accountant.

Part One: Framing Advisory Work

Part one of the series outlines the basics of advisory service:

• What is advising, and how it differs from bookkeeping, consulting, and general accounting?
• How to ensure your advisory work is truly proactive and brings the kind of additional value to your clients that they will pay for.
• How to select a target audience and industry niche.

Part Two: Core of the Work

Part two is a deep dive into the core of advising:

• How to optimize the chart of accounts.
• How to select core financial ratios and use them to advise your clients on their business’ performance.
• How to guide your clients through the forecasting and budgeting processes.
• How to provide detailed cash flow forecasts.

Part Three: Optimize Your Work

Part three will help you take your advisory service to the next level, and provides strategies for tailoring your work to meet the specific needs and goals of each of your clients. You’ll look at:

• How to choose the most useful KPIs for each client across different industries.
• How to work with clients on determining what actions to take to improve the KPIs you are tracking.
• How to ensure that your clients follow through and take these actions.
• How to fine-tune your communication style to suit your client’s preferences.

Begin your ProAdvisor training today!