The time has come to honor the 'best of the best' from this year's Top 100 ProAdvisors and Top 25 Up-n-Coming ProAdvisors by recognizing the recipients of the ProAdvisor of the Year, the ProAdvisor Categorical Award and the Up-n-Coming ProAdvisor Award.
Live from the stage of Scaling New Heights in St. Louis, Missouri, Gary DeHart, publisher of Insightful Accountant has just presented the 2023 ProAdvisor of the Year and ProAdvisor Categorical Awards.
Please join with us here at Insightful Accountant in congratulating these most deserving recipients.
The 2023 ProAdvisor of the Year is Vanessa Vasquez
Vanessa Vasquez
Financial Expert and QuickBooks ProAdvisor Vanessa Vasquez is a firm believer that QuickBooks has helped Latinos grow their businesses. While a QuickBooks survey showed that more than 4 million Latino workers are looking to start businesses in the US, starting a business will be challenging for many of them.
Yet Vasquez has not only seen QuickBooks help those start-ups manage their expenses and keep their doors open, but actually grow their businesses even during the pandemic.
And one big reason for that kind of success within the Latino community, especially in South Florida, is Vanessa herself. Her main focus has been to help entrepreneurs and accountants succeed by streamlining their small business financial management processes through education and the application of technology.
Vanessa regularly gives back to the community in the United States and Latin America, by providing solutions for business owners and their everyday problems because she earnestly understands their needs.
For more that 15 years, Vanessa has trained the tax and accounting community on how to use QuickBooks for less work and better results.
Vanessa is not only a member of Intuit's Trainer/Writer Network, but long standing member of Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors.
In addition to having presented numerous sessions at QuickBooks Connect, Scaling New Heights, CPAAcademy.org, and Latino Tax Fest. Vanessa is an organizer of the Miami Woodard Group and co-host of Conecta Tus Finanza.
When it came right down to it this year, among all the Categorical Winners, Vanessa most clearly personifies the ProAdvisor standard and was the 'best of the best' overall.
That's why Insightful Accountant is proud to honor Vanessa Vasquez with the 2023 ProAdvisor of the Year Award.
The 2023 QuickBooks Online Award goes to Jonathan Bello
Jonathan Bello is a QuickBooks leader providing Ongoing Services for Accounting, Bookkeeping, Catch-up/Clean-up, Cash Flow Usage/Forecasting, and Training Nationwide.
With more than two decades of experience, his firm 'One 8 Solutions' has the singular vision of partnering with their clients by providing excellence in client accounting and extraordinary customer service.
Jonathan is a member of Intuit’s Trainer/Writer Network and an Intuit Qualified Solution Provider.
He has been on Insightful Accountant’s Top 100 ProAdvisors since 2017 and was honored with the 2019 QuickBooks Online Appologist award.
Jonathan led the way in this year's QuickBooks Online category in terms of professional stature, practice performance, training, certifications and app engagement.
That is why Insightful Accountant is once again proud to recognize Jonathan as a categorical award winner, this year for QuickBooks Online.
The 2023 QuickBooks Desktop Integrations Award goes to Wendelyn Duquette
Wendelyn Duquette became certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor in 1996 and almost immediately opened her firm 'QuickStart' to help clients clean up messes in their financial systems and train them how to use QuickBooks. She relished the idea of designing solutions to help clients manage their businesses and do their work in ways that were 'client specific.'
Today, Wendelyn focuses heavily on solving the problems of nonprofits by assessing the organization's needs and then developing systems to meet those challenges. In accomplishing this task, Wendelyn relies heavily on 3rd-party solutions that integrate with QuickBooks.
Wendelyn's professionalism, practice parameters, training dedication, certifications and significant app interactions propelled her in the top ranking in the desktop integrations category.
Wendelyn has been a member of Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors each year since 2015. This year Wendelyn can add a 'ProAdvisor Categorical award' to her resume as Insightful Accountant's 2023 QuickBooks Desktop Integrations Award Winner.
The 2023 International ProAdvisor: 'Non-Americas' Award Winner (representing Australia) is Emma Fabbro
With growing participation in the Top 100 Awards process from ProAdvisors around the globe, we one again saw new faces join the ranks of this year's list.
From the land 'down under' comes Emma Fabbro who is not only an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Flinders Park, South Australia, but a certified practicing accountant.
Emma is a sole practitioner in her firm, 'Fusion Accountants' which she established in 2014.
Emma loves working closely with small business clients, providing bookkeeping and accounting services and helping them to have an understanding of the numbers behind their business.
In fact, Emma's business motto is, "Your Business is Our Business" which personifies one of the key traits of a Top ProAdvisor .
As this year's 'best of the best' ProAdvisors outside the Americas, Insightful Accountant is proud to recognize Emma as the winner of our 2023 International ProAdvisor Award for the 'Non-Americas' (representing all of the Globe outside of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central or South America and the Caribbean islands).
Jessica Fox is the CAS/BPO ProAdvisor Award Winner for 2023
Surely everyone knows that Insightful Accountant shortens the terms 'Client Accounting Services/Business Process Outsourcing' to CAS/BPO because to do otherwise would require too much work on the part of the glass engraver producing the award.
But despite the long name, this award is becoming increasing important because of the growing number of small companies that are entrusting their business operations to ProAdvisors for functions like accounts payable, payroll, accounts receivable and even outsourced CFO services.
Jessica Fox, this year's CAS/BPO ProAdvisor Award winner is one such ProAdvisor.
Jessica is passionate about helping small business owners have peace of mind by taking their financial burdens off their shoulders so they can focus on growing their business.
Her firm, 'Florida Virtual Bookkeeper', strives for honesty and transparency in all their business dealing while maintaining the highest level of integrity and professionalism in providing a wealth of business services to meet client requirements.
Jessica is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a certified bookkeeper as well as a member of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and the Digital Bookkeepers Association. She is also the author of Bookkeeping Basics for Entrepreneurs.
Insightful Accountant is proud to award Jessica Fox with the 2023 CAS/BPO ProAdvisor Award.
The 2023 Niche (Specialization) ProAdvisor Award Winner is Megan Genest Tarnow
Megan Genest Tarnow is an Elite QuickBooks ProAdvisor specializing in non-profits. Megan's expertise rests in her ability to simplify otherwise complex issues for her clients. She also forms true partnerships with the many non-profits who call her 'their ProAdvisor.'
Megan is an experienced leader who goes out of her way to find creative solutions to meet the requirements of the clients she serves. And most importantly she brings a commitment to serving the mission-driven organizations with whom she works.
So, if you haven't been able to identify it by now, Megan's 'niche', her practice specialization, is non-profit organizations, and it is her talents, expertise and experience in working with NPOs that made Megan the 'best of the best' in this ProAdvisor awards category for 2023.
Insightful Accountant is more than happy to recognize Megan as this year's Niche ProAdvisor Award Winner for her work with Non-Profit Organizations.
Kelly Gonsalves is our 2023 Social Media ProAdvisor Award Winner
You probably know her as 'Kelly G'. I mean, in the last few years, she has gotten so popular in the QuickBooks and 3rd-party Apps Social Media arenas she had to shorten her name like other 'celebrities.'
Back in the days of the popularity of CB Radio, we called that kind of thing 'a catchy handle.'
But here in the annals of Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards, we know her by the name she records on her 'Official Application form', Kelly Gonsalves.
Kelly is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a member of Intuit's Trainer/Writer Network, a HubDoc Top 50 Cloud Accountant, a member of Avalara's Top 100 Social Media, and we could go on and on. Much of which has come about since her first appearance on Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisor list in 2019 when she also was recognized as the Up-n-coming ProAdvisor that year.
Not only is Kelly the Chief Visionary and Founder of 'Totally Booked' in New York which she started in 2015, but she has since started at least three other companies one of which is 'Totally SEO' which has the mission of promoting more visibility for the app and accounting partners she works with. Key among the 'Totally SEO' mission is the use and maximization of social media channels.
It was Kelly G's energy, enthusiasm and expertise that landed her the 'top spot' in this year's rankings for Social Media ProAdvisor.
That's why Kelly Gonsalves is Insightful Accountant's Social Media ProAdvisor Award Winner for 2023.
The 2023 QuickBooks Desktop Award Winner is Keith Gormezano
To many people Keith Gormezano is known as 'Dr. QuickBooks', and he clearly is also known as a QuickBooks Desktop 'problem solver.' Keith is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and President of 'Dr. Quick Books, Inc.' He is also a long-term Premier Reseller of Intuit QuickBooks.
But Keith doesn't stop with just QuickBooks Desktop, he also works with QBO, QuickBooks Point-of-sale, QuickBooks Mac and even Quicken. And he is also know for his 'technical guru' skills associated with slow or unresponsive company files, networking issues, inability to make backups, and other database issues.
He holds every QuickBooks certification available within the United States, and strives to remain on top of his game by attending certification and related training whenever possible. And Keith stacked up those 'app points' in this year's awards process based upon the number of integrations he works with and supports for both QuickBooks Desktop and QBO.
When it comes right down to it, Keith is the perfect example of a ProAdvisor whose practice is 50% Desktop and 50% Online, but he still 'out pointed' everyone else in the Desktop category to earn first place status.
That's why he is Insightful Accountant's QuickBooks Desktop Award Winner for 2023.
Pat Hartley is the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Educator Award Winner for 2023
It takes a special kind of individual to be recognized as Insightful Accountant's QuickBooks ProAdvisor Educator Award winner. Over these ten years we have had many great ones, many of whom you can thank for 'your' own QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certifications in terms of both their teaching and writing abilities.
This year, Pat Hartley joins the ranks of those QuickBooks Educator ProAdvisor Award winners. One of Pat's students described her online as "an awesome QuickBooks trainer and consultant."
Pat's expertise as a QuickBooks Educator extends from training the clients she works with to having authored the QuickBooks Online education solution for Labyrinth Learning. Pat is also a QuickBooks Professor for Chaffey College.
When she isn't teaching, or writing, or developing content, Pat leads the way as an Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor and owner of 'Accounting on the Go' that seeks to help QuickBooks Online users with their problems and need for custom solutions.
One of Pat's clients reported in social media that she "was the only person she trusted when she needed accounting advice or QuickBooks expertise." Can you think of a better complement for a QuickBooks Educator? I can't!
That's why this year's QuickBooks ProAdvisor Educator Award goes to Pat Hartley.
The 2023 QuickBooks Enterprise Large Business Specialist Award Winner is Mario Nowogrodzki.
Insightful Accountant announced two new ProAdvisor Categorical Awards for 2023 and one of them was the QuickBooks Enterprise Large Business Specialist Award. This award grew out of the significant enhancements Intuit has made in the capabilities of QuickBooks Enterprise and the role of a unique category of ProAdvisors who specialize in meeting the requirements of large and complex businesses.
In order to ensure these ProAdvisors focused on both their commitment to the Enterprise product line, and clients with large and complex businesses, Insightful Accountant developed new standards for the award that were intended to measure both aspects when it came to qualifying for categorical ranking.
Mario Nowogrodzki led the way in the new category this first year of the awards. Not only did QB Enterprise comprise more than 50% of Mario's ProAdvisor practice, but he far exceeded the 25 client minimum using Enterprise to qualify for award ranking status.
Just as importantly, Mario's clients consistently used more of the 'advanced feature' set around which Enterprise focuses on supporting large and complex businesses, and they did so in record percentages of acceptance.
Mario's firm, Mendelson Consulting specializes in QuickBooks and information technology consulting services. They focus on providing a solution-based approach, customized to each client's individual and specific needs.
Mario's combination of a CPA accounting background coupled with his expert knowledge of QuickBooks Enterprise gives his clients an unparalleled edge that was clearly evident in his categorical score.
Mario Nowogrodzki was clearly "best in class" when it comes to what a QuickBooks Enterprise Large Business Specialist is supposed to be, and that's why he is this year's QuickBooks Enterprise LBS Award winner.
The 2023 Top Up-N-Coming ProAdvisor is Sheri Radler
Sheri Radler is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and owner of 'R Accounting Group'. Sheri understands that every business is unique and that an efficient and easy-to-use accounting system is critical to overall success.
Within her 'Official Application' for the awards, Sheri documented professionalism, practice efficiencies, training, expertise and experience in matters related to QuickBooks, bookkeeping, accounting and more. Sheri also demonstrated that she understands not only the problems her clients face and how to handle complex issues specific to small business, but how to handle and grow and up-n-coming ProAdvisor practice.
Sheri clearly has the skillset and experience that justified her categorization as a up-n-coming ProAdvisor, and her demonstrated awareness of the needs of a small business in today's competitive environment propelled her to the first place ranking among the leading contenders in that category.
It is for these reasons that Sheri Radler is 'best in class' within this year's Top 25 Up-n-coming ProAdvisors and is recognized as the Top Up-N-Coming ProAdvisor for 2023.
Laura Redmond is the QuickBooks Online Advanced Mid-market Specialist ProAdvisor Award Winner for 2023
Now I dare you to try to say the full name of this award three times real quick. It's quite a mouth full.
But the reality is that QuickBooks Online Advanced is out in front of other cloud based accounting solutions for small business when it comes to meeting the needs of the mid-market. With features like Spreadsheet Sync, Custom Report Building, Chart View, and Revenue Recognition, QBO Advanced is the purpose-built solution for professionals, non-profits, construction, e-Commerce and more quickly growing and changing companies.
Understanding both the QBO Advanced product and these specific mid-market businesses, as well as how the unique feature-set can meet their requirements is the goal of a QBO Advanced Mid-market Specialist, and serves as the standard upon which Insightful Accountant based this new categorical award for 2023.
Ten years ago, in the very first Top 100 awards process, Laura was the award winner for the Up-n-coming ProAdvisor. Since then the accolades just kept rolling in.
Laura's firm, 'Redmond Accounting, Inc.' has been named by Intuit as a 'Firm of the Future', and her participation in the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network, including extensive work on the very first QuickBooks Online Advanced ProAdvisor examination and materials proves her expertise in QBO.
Now her practice has accelerated in terms of migrating clients to the QuickBooks Online Advanced platform to meet the challenges and growth requirements of their businesses. In her 'Official Application' for this year's awards she not only reported more than 25 clients using QBO-Adv, but that more than 50% of her ProAdvisor practice was now based in QuickBooks Advanced and the features unique to that product.
No one other than Laura Redmond is truly deserving of being the first ever recipient of this new award.
Its' for these reasons Laura Redmond truly is the 2023 recipient of the QuickBooks Online Advanced Mid-Market Specialist ProAdvisor Award.
The 2023 QBO Appologist ProAdvisor Award Winner is Jeffrey Siegel
I coined that word 'Appologist' but I doubt you will ever see it in Webster's dictionary, and if you do it will probably be someone else who takes credit for it. But when we first implemented this award it just didn't sound right to refer to the QBO integration award by the same title we used for the Desktop 3rd-party product specialization.
Having been involved in health care for so long, I was always surrounded by professional who were 'this kind of an -ologist', or 'that kind of an -ologist' and it just seemed nature that anyone who would specialize in QBO Apps should be called an 'Appologist.' The name stuck and the first such award was made in 2019.
Apps have an increased importance in the Top 100 Awards of today, in much the same way that they have an increasing importance in the overall QuickBooks ecosystem. Let's face it, if you are a QBO ProAdvisor and you "don't do apps" you are not very likely to get far in the QBO related awards, and nowhere when it comes to the QBO Appology award.
But you can't say this year's award winner, Jeffrey Siegel "doesn't do apps."
When it comes to the categorical rankings in which Jeff was a clear 'first place,' he ranked several thousand points higher than the category runner-up.
Whether its the apps you use, or refer, or the apps you are certified in, and those with whom you have built strong relationships with the developers including standing as an authorized implementer of the app, the more you work with, learn about and promote apps to your QuickBooks Online clients, the 'more app' you are to come out ahead in this category.
If as in the medical profession a specialist is on occasion recognized as a 'fellow', Jeff Siegel is one QBO Appologist who would most certainly be 'such a fellow.' And that's why he is this year's QuickBooks Online Appologist Award Winner.
Connie Smith is the 2023 International ProAdvisor: Americas Award Winner (representing Canada)
Intuit recently announced the new 'Global' version of QuickBooks Online Accountant, and training and certification related to the product for accountants, bookkeepers and consultants as ProAdvisors. While Insightful Accountant has seen significant growth in participation in the Top 100 Awards from around the globe over the last few years, the new 'Global' product will mean an even larger number of International participants in the years to come.
Our ProAdvisor neighbors to the north, in Canada have one of the most active networking's for training and certifications. They are just now seeing Intuit hosted 'connect events' that are regional programs that emulate miniature versions of QuickBooks Connect here in the US.
And because many of these ProAdvisors participate in US training events like QuickBooks Connect and Scaling New Heights, we are seeing not only highly qualified Canadian certified ProAdvisors, but an increasing number of Canadians with dual certifications in both Canada and the US.
This year's International ProAdvisor: Americas winner is Connie Smith from Dorset, Ontario. Connie is an Advanced QBO ProAdvisor and is also certified in QuickBooks Desktop. Her firm, 'financly.ca' offers cloud-based bookkeeping and business development solutions
Among her many expertise is the ability to create processes that solve difficult Shopify and Amazon accounting challenges for her E-commerce clients. Because Connie ran her own business for more than 20 years, her clients benefit from not only her knowledge of bookkeeping concepts, accounting principles, QuickBooks expertise, and her experience and insights as a small business owner/entrepreneur.
Connie excelled in the professional standards, practice expertise, Canadian ProAdvisor training, international certifications and the international group of apps within this year's rankings.
Having been among Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors since 2020, Connie Smith will now be able to proudly claim the International ProAdvisor: Americas Award (representing Canada) for 2023.
There you have it, this year's ProAdvisor of the Year and all of our ProAdvisor Categorical Winners. But we want to remind you that none of these awards would be possible without the tremendous sponsors who support the Top 100 Awards Program.
About the ProAdvisor of the Year and Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards
The ProAdvisor of the Year and Top 100 ProAdvisor awards program recognizes the best QuickBooks ProAdvisors worldwide. Applicants for this prestigious program are ranked based on their performance across various categories, measuring everything from QuickBooks knowledge to utilizing the best tools and partner apps within the QuickBooks ecosystem that contribute to solid practice growth.
Since its inception, Insightful Accountant has served as the awarding entity and administrator for these awards. Intuit QuickBooks and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program have participated as sponsors and in an advisory capacity for these awards.
The terms QuickBooks®, QuickBooks Online (QBO and QBO Advanced), QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks ProAdvisor(s) refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit® Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
About Insightful Accountant
Insightful Accountant is an independent news and information source written specifically for the small business advisor who needs to stay current on the latest news and offerings in accounting technology, including updates from Intuit and the hundreds of add-on products for QuickBooks serving the small business ecosystem. With information and insight specifically written to help advisors better serve their clients while building their firm, Insightful Accountant is unlike any other news source serving this space. In addition, the people driving Insightful Accountant bring their unique skills and perspectives to the news site.