Intuit Accounting Futures
Frequently asked questions

Accounting Futures is a free program from Intuit for Education that brings real-world accounting skills into your classroom, at no cost to you, your students, or your institution. It combines three things:

• Curriculum: QuickBooks Online (QBO) technical training and Client Advisory Services (CAS) coursework, ready to teach or assign as a self-paced option.
• Industry connection: access to QuickBooks Industry Advisors who can guest lecture, mentor, or advise your students.
• Career pathways: industry-recognized credentials that connect students to paid work-based learning and firm hiring pipelines.

Students who complete the program graduate credential-ready for the fastest-growing segment of accounting, backed by QuickBooks, the accounting platform used by the majority of small businesses in the U.S.

The profession is in the middle of a significant shift. More than 300,000 accountants left the field in the last two years, and 75% of those remaining are expected to retire within the decade. At the same time, AI and automation are handling more transactional work, so demand for higher-value advisory skills is growing faster than the talent supply can keep up with. Your students are entering the profession at exactly the right moment—the Accounting Futures Program helps them arrive ready.

Accounting Futures is built around two complementary skill sets: QuickBooks (QB) and Client Advisory Services (CAS). Neither track requires the other, and you can teach one or both.

• QuickBooks: technical proficiency in the software itself, leading to the Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1 (earned via Intuit Academy, issued through Credly).
• CAS: advisory, communication, and analytical skills, leading to the Intuit for Education Client Advisory Services Foundations Badge (earned via the Accounting Futures Hub, issued through Credly).

Both credentials are free and industry-recognized. They can be earned in either order, or at the same time—neither is a prerequisite for the other.

1. Learn the QB and CAS curriculum, either educator-led or self-paced.
2. Earn the Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1 and the Intuit for Education Client Advisory Services Foundations Badge.
3. Access paid micro-internships and connect with industry advisors through guest lecture and volunteer opportunities.

Note: paid work-based learning requires both student credentials above, plus their educator holding their own Accounting Futures Badge.

Nothing. There is no cost to the institution, the educator, or the student.

CAS is the fastest-growing practice area in accounting, projected to grow 99% over the next three years. It's the direction the profession is moving. Where traditional accounting focuses on compliance and transaction work, CAS is about ongoing strategic guidance: helping businesses understand their financials, plan ahead, and make better decisions. It combines accounting fundamentals, technology fluency, analytical thinking, and client communication skills. Firms are actively hiring for it, and most graduates haven't had the opportunity to build these skills before entering the workforce.

CAS builds on the accounting fundamentals your students already learn in your courses. What it adds is the advisory mindset, client-facing skills, and technology fluency that firms increasingly expect from day-one hires. Think of it as a bridge between the classroom and the career—not a replacement for what you teach, but a connection to where the profession is heading.

There are three CAS standalone courses. Each is teachable on its own or together, in any order:

• Communicating to Build Trust: client communication and emotional intelligence fundamentals. No accounting background required.
• Analyzing and Interpreting Financial Reports: reading and interpreting core financial statements and using them for client insight. Assumes basic familiarity with financial statements.
• AI for Accounting: foundational AI concepts and how AI is changing the profession. No specialized AI expertise required.

Timing depends on delivery format:

• Guided/educator-led: Communicating to Build Trust ~3 hrs, Analyzing and Interpreting Financial Reports ~2.75 hrs, AI for Accounting ~2.5 hrs (~8.25 hrs total).
• Self-paced (async, via the Accounting Futures Hub): roughly 1.5 hrs, 2 hrs, and 1.25 hrs respectively (~4.75 hrs total).

Students who complete all three CAS courses and pass the associated exam via the Accounting Futures Hub earn the Intuit for Education Client Advisory Services Foundations Badge, issued via Credly. If CAS is taught in the classroom, students still need to complete the self-paced version via the Accounting Futures Hub to unlock and take the exam.

QuickBooks Online (QBO) is the accounting software most widely used by small businesses. Whether a student ends up in CAS-style advisory work or traditional accounting, QBO fluency is a practical, near-universal expectation from employers. The QuickBooks curriculum in this program teaches students to work confidently inside the actual product, not a simulation.

Delivered through the QuickBooks Educator Portal (QBEP), each course is a standalone, flexible offering that includes hands-on activities with the actual QBO tool. No prior course is required to teach or take a later one:

• Beginner Course — TAD Gaming Services (a service business): core QBO workflows including invoicing, banking, and budgeting.
• Intermediate Course — Sushi Coma Restaurant (a product and service business): everything in the beginner course, plus inventory, payroll, and sales tax.
• Advanced Course — Inflow Heating and Cooling (a contractor and job-costing business): everything in the beginner and intermediate courses, plus estimates, projects, and job costing. This is the most comprehensive course, and is aligned to the QuickBooks certification.

Timing depends on delivery format:

• Guided/educator-led via QBEP: Beginner Course ~10 hrs, Intermediate Course ~20 hrs, Advanced Course ~32 hrs.
• Self-paced (async, via Intuit Academy): ~7 hours 30 minutes total, leading directly to the certification exam.

Students earn the Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1 by passing an exam via Intuit Academy, issued via Credly. The Advanced Course offered in QBEP is the curriculum directly aligned to this exam. Students taught the curriculum in class can skip straight to Intuit Academy and test out by taking the exam directly.

Start by earning your own Accounting Futures Badge, a self-paced professional development module (about 30 minutes) completed via the Accounting Futures Hub and issued through Credly. It covers why QuickBooks and CAS matter, walks through setup and certification, and previews the rest of the program. From there, you're ready to register for QBEP access and bring QuickBooks and CAS curriculum into your classroom. This badge also unlocks additional benefits such as paid work-based learning opportunities for your students and the chance to connect your classroom to industry advisors.

Yes to both. The two credentials are designed to complement each other: Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 1 demonstrates technical proficiency, and the Intuit for Education Client Advisory Services Foundations Badge demonstrates advisory and communication skills. There are no prerequisites between them—they can be taught and earned in either order, or at the same time. Educators can teach either track on its own or combine them, and both are available at no cost.

No. For educator-led curriculum, both tracks are self-contained, with instructor guides, presentation decks, and answer keys included. No prior expertise is required, though a basic level of accounting knowledge is helpful. For the self-paced/async courses, there's even less lift: you simply assign the course to students, who work through it independently.

Intuit for Education provides free educator training and an onboarding walkthrough when you join the program. Curriculum materials are ready to use and available for download directly from the QuickBooks Educator Portal (QBEP). Students who earn both the QuickBooks and CAS credentials, whose educator has also earned the Accounting Futures Badge, are eligible for paid work-based learning opportunities offered by Intuit, and industry advisors are available to engage with your students directly in the classroom. For questions, reach out to highered@intuit.com.

The Accounting Futures Program is Intuit's commitment to closing the gap between accounting education and the profession students are actually entering. The near-term goal is straightforward: more students graduating with the credentials, skills, and industry connections that make them genuinely hire-ready for CAS roles. Longer term, the program is building the infrastructure for a sustained talent network, connecting institutions, educators, students, and firms in a way that strengthens the profession from the ground up.