The past several years, Insightful Accountant has offered a Short Form application for Top 100 applicants who completed the prior year's application process.
For 2022, the Short Form application may be completed by any US or Canadian nominee who completed an application during 2021 in lieu of a Long Form as a simple way to meet the requirements of the second phase of the "Top 100/ProAdvisor of the Year" process.
So, you may be asking if you really should cut yourself short, so to speak, by using the Short Form, or just completing the Long Form.
I thought I'd give you some reasons why it might be worth taking the extra time to tell us the "full scoop" using the Long Form.
1. "Pat Yourself on the Back"
Don't be afraid to "pat yourself on the back" and highlight every single thing about yourself as a ProAdvisor. There is no telling what you have accomplished since you last completed a Long Form—even if it was only last year.
While Insightful Accountant tries to capture the essentials in the Short Form, we cannot capture all the details—otherwise it would be just another Long Form.
The Long Form is designed to help you capture almost everything about you and your practice. It is all tied directly to the algorithms used to evaluate and rank each ProAdvisor against the standards for the various "categorical classifications" we evaluate.
While the short form will give you the opportunity to tell us that a majority of your clients are using QuickBooks Online, it does not give you the ability to modify your historic Tech Stack details related to how you work with those clients in terms of the various apps you now use.
Another example is in the area of training. While the Short Form allows you to specify various training opportunities you participated in, and even hours of training you earned, it does not give you the level of detail as to specific courses involved with those training opportunities. This could earn you extra valuable points toward a ranking in your "categorical classification."
One big reason is the field of practice. Remember: You need to explain in detail all the changes and things you have done as a ProAdvisor. For example, you were previously a Generalist, for the most part, but now specialize in a niche. Or, you were previously QuickBooks Desktop focused (primarily) and worked with almost all Desktop Add-ons, but have since transitioned most of your clients to QuickBooks Online and are working with cloud-based apps.
You cannot explain all of that in the Short Form. Clearly, taking the extra time to "pat yourself on the back" will help bolster your scoring opportunities.
2) "Trainers/Educators & Writers"
If you are striving for Insightful Accountant's Top "Educator/Trainer/Writer" Categorical Award, don't rely on the Short Form to laud your accolades. You must answer the questions about how many hours you actually taught or trained (emphasis on you) in a professional setting.
Similarly, if you are a writer, we want you to document your formal written work accomplishments (not including informal blog posts). There are opportunities to expand on information in the Long Form well beyond what you can in the Short Form. And since we want the current year (since December 2020 to date), we will not be counting the hours information in any prior Long Form data you provided.
3) "Everyone Can Make a Mistake"
"Everyone makes mistakes." Insightful Accountant spends lots of time in verification of information you submit in your formal application form. These are critical items that cannot be verified, which means your score may be so low you don't ever reach a ranking sufficient to earn a standing within a categorical ranking of 1 thru 10.
In other cases, the mistake simply has a minor scoring-point impact. If we cannot verify a certification from 2001, you simply don't earn the credit it would otherwise earn. On the other hand, if we cannot verify a certification from 2020, such a certification is worth many more points than one from 2001.
Your overall ranking and standing are impacted by the value of these certifications (or lack thereof). The same thing applies if you failed to report you had earned a specific certification. We only validate what you report; we don't add to your status—even if we are aware of missing items because our criteria is an objective measure of your reported data.
So you miss out of points you could otherwise have been credited with.
Human mistakes like this occur in one year when you complete a Long Form. But they are examples of why you should consider completing a new Long Form application, rather than taking the easy way out and just completing a Short Form.
That is unless you are absolutely confident that you, unlike every other human on the face of the planet, could not possibly have made a mistake in the past. The opportunity to complete a new Long Form is your chance to correct your mistakes, even if you don't know you made them.
How Do You Elect the Long-Form versus Short-Form?
On the first page of the Application Questionnaire, we ask basic information like your Name, Address, etc. Then, at the bottom of the page is a question stating that if you are a nominee who had previously completed the 2021 Awards Application, and you are from either the US or Canada, you can elect to use the Short Form by answering Yes to this question.
It goes on to say that by providing a No response to the question (above), it takes the nominee back to the full application, aka, the Long Form. This is what we expect for all candidates, other than those from the US and Canada who completed a 2021 application form."
If you read the above question carefully, there is a "Note" telling US and Canadian participants who completed a 2021 form that they may elect to complete the Long Form by answering NO to the question, too. In so doing, they then proceed to completing the remaining pages of the entire Long Form application.
To put it simply, when you see this question: a "Yes" answer = Short Form, while a "No" answer = Long Form.
Please remember, much of the information in either the Short or Long form takes time to compile before you start the actual application form. You must make certain you know your entire certification history, your training locations and hours you participated in (took, taught or developed), the app vendors you work with, your client base (# and types of clients, etc.) and the work you accomplished before you start your application.
Unfortunately, the application form is not a start/stop/restart process; it is a sit-down and fill-it-out all in one setting process. Please be prepared before you begin.
