On Monday, Intuit Inc. unveiled a newly designed QuickBooks® ProAdvisor® program featuring a new “Grow Your Practice” online resource center, more online training and two new QuickBooks certifications as part of the company’s emphasis on helping accountants grow their practices and serve their clients better. Created eight years ago, more than 35,000 accountants and small business consultants belong to the QuickBooks ProAdvisor today.

“All of our ideas for the new ProAdvisor program resulted from listening to what our accountant customers wanted and trying to deliver solutions and programs to meet their needs,” Nancy Lee, Manager of the ProAdvisor Program for Intuit, said. “Our ProAdvisor program helps them meet their goals of growing their business while providing them with the right tools and training so they can offer great service to their clients.”

The new “Grow Your Practice” online resource center contains a variety of free information and materials helping accountants attract new clients or increase profits with existing ones. Resources include how-to articles written by accounting peers, marketing collateral and presentations available for download and customizable.

In addition, to help accountants differentiate themselves and serve their clients better, Intuit has added an Advanced ProAdvisor certification and designation to the program. ProAdvisor members who have been certified for the last three years, completed a specifically-designed curriculum of four in-person training sessions and four online in-person training courses, are eligible for the Advanced certification.

The number of training programs and resources available to ProAdvisor members has increased as well. More than 40 free courses are available, including 16 new online training courses. Throughout the coming year, Intuit also plans to conduct in-person QuickBooks training sessions for ProAdvisors in 15 cities across the nation. Advanced seminars are being offered to ProAdvisors at a substantial discount.

There are two program offerings for accountants to choose from. The first, priced at $399, includes access to the training and program resources, as well as one license of each version of QuickBooks financial software and one license of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. The second offering, prices at $499, includes everything just listed, along with a one-year subscription to QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll for Accountants. All participating members receive free, unlimited support from Intuit’s specialized team of U.S.-based support representatives, trained to handle accountant specific issues. Free online and e-mail support is also available.

In addition, ProAdvisors can choose to add to their program offering by purchasing separately up to five additional copies of QuickBooks products or services for $99.each. The menu of products and services that can be purchased separately and added include: QuickBooks: Premier Accountant Edition, QuickBooks Point of Sale Multi-Store, QuickBooks Merchant Services or QuickBooks Pro for the Mac.