Ever feel like your accounting skills are stuck in the slow lane? You know QuickBooks, but you want to prove it. Getting officially QuickBooks Certified is your fast track to boosting your career, enhancing your resume, and showing potential clients or employers you’ve got the goods.
Good news: the process is straightforward, and we’ve got the map for you. This step-by-step guide walks you through exactly what you need to do to earn your official QuickBooks Certification in 2026 — endorsed by Intuit — covering QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and even becoming a certified Bookkeeping Professional. Let’s dive in!
Why Get QuickBooks Certified?
Before we get to the “how,” let’s talk about the “why.” This certification isn’t just a fancy piece of paper; it’s an official credential endorsed by Intuit that validates your knowledge and expertise.
- Career Boost: Certified users stand out. Having a certification demonstrates a commitment to professional excellence.
- Skill Validation: You prove your ability to manage real-world business accounting tasks.
- Lifetime Credibility: Once you’re certified, you’re certified for life—it never expires!
The Three Official Certifications You Can Earn
QuickBooks training offers three distinct certifications. You can go after just one, or tackle all three for maximum impact:
- QuickBooks Online (QBO) Certification: Focuses on proving your ability to manage business accounting using the popular cloud-based QuickBooks Online platform.
- QuickBooks Desktop Certification: Validates your proficiency with the traditional, installed QuickBooks Desktop software.
- Certified Bookkeeping Professional: A broader certification that demonstrates core bookkeeping and accounting skills, extending beyond the specific QuickBooks software functions.
Step-by-Step: Your Path to QuickBooks Certification
Getting certified is simple when you follow this proven path. The entire process, from learning the material to passing the exam, is designed to take roughly 20 hours.
Step 1: Enroll in a Comprehensive Training Program
The first and most critical step is getting the right preparation. A solid training program gives you everything you need to confidently pass your exams.
We recommend a program that includes:
- Live Classes and Self-Paced Courses: You need flexibility. Look for a mix of live, instructor-led classes and on-demand, self-paced courses so you can learn around your schedule.
- Lifetime Access: Choose a program that gives you lifetime access to all course materials and unlimited retakes for classes, ensuring you’re always learning the most up-to-date content.
- One-on-One Help: Accounting can get tricky. Personalized 1-on-1 instructor support is invaluable for troubleshooting specific issues with your books.
Key takeaway: A great training program does more than teach. It includes the official exams! Look for a Training Plan that includes three free certification exams right off the bat.
Step 2: Learn the Material (Approx. 13 Hours)
This is where you build the foundation. Your training will cover all the essentials needed to master the content for each certification you pursue.
- QuickBooks FAST-Track: If you’re new or rusty, start with a 2-day live class to cover the QuickBooks basics.
- Regular, Live Classes: Engage with daily, one-hour sessions on specific topics to build expertise.
- Learn Anytime: Take advantage of 100+ on-demand courses to fill in any knowledge gaps on your own schedule.
Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice (Approx. 6 Hours)
Knowledge is great, but hands-on experience is what truly prepares you for the exam and the real world. This phase is all about building confidence.
- Hands-on Exercises: Work through interactive exercises that simulate real-world QuickBooks scenarios to apply what you’ve learned.
- Practice Tests: Utilize online, interactive practice tests that mirror the format of the official 60-question exams (multiple-choice and True/False). Free retakes on practice tests mean you can drill until you feel completely ready.
Step 4: Pass the Official Online Exam (Approx. 1 Hour per Exam)
You’ve learned it, you’ve practiced it, and now it’s time to pass the test.
The QuickBooks Certification exams — endorsed by Intuit — are administered online.
- Duration: Each exam takes about one hour to complete.
- Format: The exams consist of 60 multiple-choice and True/False questions designed to validate your expertise.
- Retakes: A quality training program will include free retakes for your certification exams, so if you don’t pass on the first try, you can jump back into the training and try again at no extra cost.
Once you pass, you immediately earn your QuickBooks Certification, which you can use to boost your professional credibility right away!
Training and Certification Plan Options
Ready to get started? You have a few choices when it comes to Training Plans. For certification, the Certification Plan is your best bet, as it bundles the training and the exams.
The Certification Plan is specifically designed to get you certified, including the training, the exam prep, and the official exams themselves.
Next Step
Start today and get QuickBooks Certified for life!