AZDT Team Training Library & Learning Paths
- AZ Moyer
- 3 days ago
- 14 min read
Team Training Library & Learning Paths
A curated home for every external training, certification, and YouTube channel the team should be working through. Built around two views: an ordered learning path per person at the top, and a full searchable library below organized by platform. AZ no longer needs to be the hands-on trainer — the team self-serves from this page.
Free · CPE/CE credit · Paid · Certification
How to Use This Document
Three rules, one habit.
Rule 1 — Path before library. Start in your named section (AZ, Branson, Isaac, Teresa, Finn). Phase 1 (first 30 days for a new hire, first 30 days of a new sprint for existing team) is non-negotiable. Phase 2 and 3 build on it.
Rule 2 — The library is reference, not a checklist. Don't try to "complete the library." Pull from it when you hit a real client problem ("I need to set up a Gusto contractor for a client tomorrow" → jump to Gusto Academy).
Rule 3 — Track CPE/CE as you go. Every CPE-credit course earns you reportable hours. Submit them quarterly during the OKR sprint retro so they don't pile up at renewal.
The habit: Block 60 minutes every Friday at 9am for training. No client work, no Slack, no email. The whole team blocks the same hour so it sticks. After 12 weeks at one hour per week, every seat has 12 CPE credits and three new certifications.
New-Hire Onboarding — First 30 / 60 / 90 Days
Anyone joining the firm runs this path before any client work. Same baseline for everyone — specialty paths layer on top.
Phase | Training |
Days 1–30 Get oriented |
|
Days 31–60 Specialize |
|
Days 61–90 Certify + own one playbook |
|
AZ — CEO Learning Path
AZ · Sales · Vision · System Design
You don't need to grind through certifications — you need to model the system. Focus on firm operations, sales, and HubSpot architecture. Skim ProConnect/QBO; go deep on Jason on Firms and Realize.
Phase 1 — Sales & CRM Mastery
Goal: stop discounting · sales scripts work
HubSpot Sales Software Certification (deal pipeline, quotes, sequences)
Phase 2 — Firm Operations
Goal: AI implementation + playbook library
Jason on Firms YouTube — watch the AI automation playlist start to finish
Realize — join the community (peer-group calls for firm owners)
Jason on Firms newsletter — subscribe
Earmark Podcast — earn CPE while you drive
Phase 3 — HubSpot Architecture
Goal: HubSpot is the single project hub (Sprint 1 carry-over)
HubSpot Reporting Certification (tax returns by month, response times)
Schedule the HubSpot CSM annual meeting (Sprint 1 OKR)
Branson — Tax Track
Branson · Tax Compliance · Path to EA
Two tracks running in parallel: short-term ProConnect mastery (so reviews go faster) and long-term EA exam (the credential that unlocks representation work and senior pricing).
Phase 1 — ProConnect Power User
Goal: cut prep time per return 25%
Intuit Accountants Training Portal — complete the ProConnect Tax learning path
Get the most out of ProConnect — full resource hub
Phase 2 — Enrolled Agent Exam (SEE)
Goal: pass all 3 parts — June–Aug study windows
IRS — Become an Enrolled Agent (official path)
IRS — Sample SEE Questions (free)
Gleim EA Review (the standard prep course)
Schedule mentor session with Kristine Stevenson (Sprint 2 OKR carry-over)
Phase 3 — Specialty Topics
Goal: own state franchise + complex topics
Tax Practice Pro — IRS-approved CE on specialty topics (S-corp comp, real estate, crypto, NIL)
Isaac — Bookkeeping + Marketing Track
Isaac · Books · Marketing · Content
Two distinct skill stacks. Bookkeeping has to be airtight (you own retainer month-end close); marketing is where you scale firm growth without scaling headcount.
Phase 1 — Bookkeeping Foundation
Goal: QBO certified, month-end close on rails
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Academy — Foundation Level 1 + Level 2
Become a Certified ProAdvisor (full certification path)
Cathy Iconis's free QBO YouTube tutorials (search "Iconis QBO" on YouTube)
Phase 2 — Marketing & Content
Goal: 4 posts/month, 1 blog/month, campaigns shipping
Phase 3 — Advanced Bookkeeping
Goal: handle whale-client month-end without help
Bookkeepers.com — for systematic clean-up project workflows
Earmark Podcast — earn CPE while editing content
Maja Double review sessions (internal — Sprint 2 carry-over)
Teresa — Client Success Track
Teresa · Onboarding · Payroll · Billing · Document Ops
You touch more systems than anyone — HubSpot, Gusto, Box, the registration portals. Certifications here unblock multiple firm OKRs at once.
Phase 1 — Gusto + Payroll
Goal: payroll certified, year-end filings on autopilot
Gusto Payroll Certification (4.0 CPE credits, free for partners)
Gusto People Advisory Certification (5.0 CPE)
Gusto Accountant Resource Center — ongoing reference
Phase 2 — HubSpot + Box
Goal: HubSpot record completeness, Box rollout shipped
Phase 3 — Compliance Ops Depth
Goal: full year-end calendar runs without firefighting
IRS CE for tax professionals (selected payroll & 1099 sessions)
CPA Academy — free webinars on 1099 prep, S-corp election, sales tax
HubSpot Email Marketing Certification (for client communication workflows)
Finn · CPA Firm Partner Track
Finn · Senior Tax · Complex Returns · Review · Partner Development Plan
You're already the technical bar at the firm. This plan is not more technical training; it's the bridge from best technician in the room to owner who builds and leads the firm. Think of partnership as four muscles you grow on top of your tax expertise: leadership, business development, firm economics, and credential/credibility.
The promise: protect your Friday training hour, follow the 12-month roadmap below in order, and pull from the Resource Library as real situations come up. After 12 months you'll have credential progress, business-development reps, and the firm-leadership vocabulary to be a serious partner candidate. Log every CPE/CE hour at the quarterly OKR retro.
What partner actually requires
The AICPA CPA Firm Competency Model breaks partner-readiness into six areas. You're strong in the first two; the growth is in the bottom four.
Competency | Where you are | What it means at partner level |
Technical knowledge | Strong | Complex returns, multi-state, K-1s, depreciation, review. Keep it sharp; it's your base, not your growth area. |
Productivity & client service | Strong | Accurate work out the door on time. Reliable delivery is assumed at partner level. |
People development & teamwork | Grow | Build the review process others can run, coach the team, delegate instead of doing. Partners multiply themselves. |
Business development | Grow | Turn relationships into engaged clients, scope work, price on value, grow the book. The single biggest gate to partner. |
Firm economics & ownership | Grow | Read the firm like a business: margins, realization, pricing, capacity, the P&L. Think like an owner. |
Credential & credibility | Grow | The CPA license (or visible progress) plus a point of view. Partners are credentialed and known. |
Your 12-month roadmap
One theme per quarter, so you're never doing everything at once. Each quarter pairs a build (something you create for the firm) with learning.
Q1 · People & Process
Build: Review Checklist Playbook
Author the firm Review Checklist Playbook so the team can run reviews without you; coach one teammate through it.
Read The Relentless CPA (Frank Stitely).
Subscribe to Jason On Firms; CPAacademy + Earmark on review, quality, and coaching.
Q2 · Firm Economics
Build: learn to read the numbers
Sit with AZ on pricing and realization for your client group; propose one re-price.
Read Implementing Value Pricing (Ron Baker).
CPAacademy practice-management webinars; Jason On Firms pricing and automation videos.
Q3 · Business Development
Build: own the advisory conversation
Lead 3 client planning meetings start to finish; turn one into expanded scope.
Read Value Pricing for Accounting Professionals (Mark Wickersham).
The Partner Institute material; Rosenberg, CPA Firm Growth.
Q4 · Leadership & Credential
Build: teach, lead, lock the CPA plan
Run a quarterly Friday training hour; deliver the December tax-law update to the team.
Rosenberg, The Role of the Managing Partner.
Confirm your Texas CPA pathway and exam timeline (see below).
The CPA credential
Why it matters: partner and CPA almost always travel together. Under CPA Evolution the exam is now Core + Discipline with a 30-month window to pass all sections, and several states have added an alternative pathway (a 120-hour bachelor's degree plus 2 years of experience). Texas note, since we're Austin-based: Senate Bill 262 takes effect August 1, 2026 and broadens the licensure pathways. Confirm the exact education, exam, and experience rules with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy before mapping your timeline; state rules govern and are actively changing in 2026.
Finn's priority resources
Your core picks for the partner track. Fuller details and more options live in the Resource Library below.
Free CPE & modern-firm voices
The fastest, cheapest way to build the non-technical muscles. Use the Friday hour and your commute.
Free · CPE/CE
CPAacademy.org: largest free live-CPE provider; reserve practice-management and pricing webinars, not just tax.
Earmark: earn CPE/CE by listening to accounting podcasts, then a short quiz. One free course a week.
Jason On Firms (Jason Staats): how to run a calm, modern, profitable firm. His Realize peer community is a paid option when you're ready to network with similar firms.
The partner bookshelf (read in this order)
Pricing and workflow first for the fastest payoff, then strategy and the managing-partner mindset. One chapter a week is plenty.
Paid
The Relentless CPA, Frank Stitely: workflow, staffing, retention, and pricing for a real tax firm.
Implementing Value Pricing, Ron Baker: the case for pricing on value instead of hours.
Value Pricing for Accounting Professionals, Mark Wickersham: how to price new clients and re-price existing ones.
Marc Rosenberg, CPA Firm Practice Management series: how partnerships actually run, grow, and decide.
The E-Myth Accountant, Michael Gerber & Darren Root: shift from doing the work to building the business.
Primary law & professional publications
Partners cite the source, not a blog. The first two are free and authoritative.
Free · Some paid
Internal Revenue Code, Title 26 (Cornell LII): the actual statute, full text and free.
Treasury Regulations, 26 CFR (Cornell LII): the Treasury and IRS interpretation of the Code.
IRS.gov: official pubs, forms, and the Internal Revenue Bulletin.
The Tax Adviser (AICPA): the practitioner journal; use it for the December tax-law update.
Journal of Accountancy: profession-wide news, including practice-management pieces.
Tax Notes and Bloomberg Tax (paid): premium research; ask AZ about a firm seat as advisory work grows.
Formal partner-development programs
Paid · Free tool
The Partner Institute (The Growth Partnership): structured program for the leap to firm owner. Plan with AZ when you're inside ~18 months of a partner decision.
AICPA CPA Firm Competency Model: rate yourself 1 to 5 on each competency every quarter and watch the bottom four climb.
Your first 30 days
Don't try to do all of this. Just start the engine:
Create your free CPAacademy.org account and register for one practice-management or pricing webinar.
Download Earmark and finish one free CPE course on the commute this week.
Subscribe to Jason On Firms and watch two videos.
Order book #1, The Relentless CPA, and read one chapter.
Open the Texas State Board site and write down exactly what your CPA pathway requires.
Start the Review Checklist Playbook outline. Even one page counts. Momentum beats intensity.
Resource Library
Every link in one place, grouped by platform. Filtered for the firm's actual tech stack and pricing tier. Each resource carries tags indicating cost, CPE eligibility, and target seat.
HubSpot Academy
100% free
All HubSpot Academy courses are free. Software certifications require an active HubSpot license (which the firm has). Best path: pick the Hub that matches your seat (Sales for AZ, Marketing for Isaac, Service for Teresa), then layer on specialty certs (SEO, Email, Content).
Start here. Browse the catalog or search by role.
Free · Everyone
Master list of every active HubSpot certification, sortable by topic.
Free · Certification
Deal pipeline, quotes, sequences, sales automation. AZ-critical.
AZ · Certification
Tickets, help desk, customer success automation. Teresa-critical.
Teresa · Certification
Campaigns, workflows, segmentation, email, landing pages. Isaac-critical.
Isaac · Certification
The "why" behind everything HubSpot does. Firm-wide foundation course.
Everyone · Certification
Other high-value HubSpot certs
Inbound Marketing Certification — Isaac
Email Marketing Certification — Isaac, Teresa
SEO Certification — Isaac
Content Marketing Certification — Isaac
HubSpot Reporting — AZ, Branson
Renewal timelines, badge display, certification validity rules.
QuickBooks ProAdvisor Academy
Free for ProAdvisors
ProAdvisor Academy is Intuit's official QBO training and certification hub. The 2025/2026 program restructured the old "Core / Advanced" into "Foundation Level 1 / Level 2." Recertification window for those certified before 11/1/2025 is open 4/28–6/30/2026 — do not miss it.
Main hub. Courses, exams, CPE submission, badge management.
Isaac · Teresa · CPE
Full certification roadmap including Foundation Level 1/2 and specialty tracks (Payroll, Desktop, Enterprise).
Certification
Open 4/28/2026 – 6/30/2026 for anyone certified before 11/1/2025. Pass the exam or use the test-out option.
Time-bound
Walk-through of how the new Academy is organized. Read before you start.
Latest changes to exams, content, and renewal rules.
Intuit ProConnect Tax
Free Some CPE/CE
ProConnect (PTO) is the firm's tax prep software. Training is mostly video tutorials and recorded webinars. Live webinars carry CE credit. Sign into MyAccount → Training → Videos & docs for the gated content.
Main entry point. Tax courses, ProConnect videos, webinar registration.
Branson · Finn
The most complete index of ProConnect training content.
Feature deep-dives, workflow shortcuts, what's new in each release.
YouTube quick-hits (free, no login)
How to use the personalized training portal. Recorded webinars are watchable on demand; live ones grant CPE/CE.
Gusto Academy
Free for partners CPE
Gusto is the payroll backbone. Their certification programs are free for accountant partners and carry CPE. Teresa should be both Payroll-certified and People-Advisory-certified.
Master page for all three Gusto certifications.
Teresa
The three certifications
Gusto Payroll Certification — 4.0 CPE. Master payroll on Gusto's platform.
People Advisory Certification — 5.0 CPE. Advise clients on payroll, benefits, people ops.
Accelerator Program — 4.0 CPE. Business + revenue impact of People Advisory.
How to access Academy from Gusto Pro. Path: Gusto Pro → Professional Growth → Education.
Templates, playbooks, marketing assets, partner-only resources.
Service offering Teresa could build out as a new revenue line for the firm.
Box.com Training
Free Cert available
If we go with Box (vs. SmartVault), Teresa needs to be the certified admin. Box has a dedicated training site (Box University) plus a full YouTube playlist for admins.
Main training portal. Self-paced paths and live classes.
Teresa
Provisioning users, groups, permissions, enterprise reports, governance.
Earn a LinkedIn-displayable Box Certified Admin credential.
Certification
Quick-hit tutorials for everyday admin tasks.
Same content as above but watchable without a Box account. Good for skimming before deciding what to deep-dive on.
Catalog of live classes and self-paced content for end users, helpdesk, developers, and admins.
IRS / EA / CE Resources
Mostly free CE/CPE
For Branson's EA pursuit and everyone's continuing-education hours. Official IRS resources are free; paid review courses (Becker, Gleim) are worth it if Branson wants structured prep.
Master page for everything IRS offers tax pros.
Official path. Three SEE parts: Individuals, Businesses, Representation. 100 questions each, must score 105/130 to pass.
Branson
Free sample questions straight from the IRS. Best first stop after deciding to pursue EA.
Paid EA prep (pick one)
CE requirements for EAs, AFSP, etc. Approved provider directory.
Free CE direct from the IRS. Nationwide Tax Forums, webinars, etc.
University-affiliated, low-cost CE classes around the country.
Third-party IRS-approved CE providers
Tax Practice Pro — specialty topics (NIL, real estate, crypto)
TaxProCPE — CE catalog
Firm Operations — Strategy & Community
Free Paid community
This is the AZ track. The fastest way for a firm owner to skip five years of mistakes is to watch what other modern firms are doing. Jason Staats's content is the gold standard for our segment.
The leading YouTube channel for small accounting firms. Modern firm ops, AI, workflows, pricing, hiring.
AZ · Free
Long-form podcast channel. Deeper interviews with firm owners.
Articles, newsletter, resource library.
Jason's paid community of 300+ firm owners. Weekly small-group calls (4–5 firms each), Slack-style channels, coaching sessions on building advisory services.
Paid membership · AZ
Other firm-ops voices worth following
Karbon HQ blog — modern firm workflow content
Future Firm — Ryan Lazanis
Cloud Accounting Podcast
Bookkeeping Skill-Up
Free + Paid
Beyond QBO ProAdvisor. The community resources here are where Isaac learns judgment — how to handle weird transactions, clean-up projects, client communication around books.
Community-driven hub. Newsletter, courses, free YouTube content for working bookkeepers.
Isaac
Memberships and structured courses. Strong on running a bookkeeping practice (good even though Isaac is in-house, not solo).
Cathy Iconis — Free QBO YouTube
Cathy made her paid QBO course free on YouTube. Search "QBO Chat Cathy Iconis" or "Iconis QBO." Best free tactical QBO content available.
Free
Internal: Maja Double review sessions
Periodic review of Isaac's work with Maja on Double. Schedule via Slack — outstanding action from Sprint 2.
Isaac
Free CPE / Webinars
Free CPE/CE
When the team needs continuing-education hours without paid courses. Pair with the Friday training hour: if a CPA Academy webinar falls in that slot, take it together.
Free CPE and IRS CE webinars. NASBA-registered. Calendar of live sessions plus a recorded library.
Everyone
Earn CPE by listening to accounting and tax podcasts. Free app + paid subscription.
Free advisory and tax webinars from a top-50 firm.
Finn
Deep technical CPE. Paid but high quality for advanced tax topics.
Paid
Industry-standard for CPA, EA, CMA, CIA exam prep + CPE library.
Paid
Make It Stick — Cadence & Tracking
Training is a habit, not a project. Three lightweight rituals keep this alive.
Ritual | What it looks like |
Friday Training Hour | 9:00–10:00 AM every Friday. Whole team on the calendar. Each person works on their current path module or attends a live CPA Academy webinar. Once a quarter, one person leads a 30-min teach-back to the team. |
Sprint Retro CPE Log | Every OKR sprint retro, each person reports: certifications completed, CPE credits earned, current module. AZ logs to a shared sheet so renewals never come as a surprise. |
Quarterly Path Review | Once a quarter, AZ + each team member review the path together. If a phase no longer fits the firm's direction, swap modules. The paths on this page are versioned, not permanent. |
Where to log credits: Each person owns their own CE / CPE submission to their professional body. Don't let it pile up. CPA Academy and Gusto issue certificates immediately; HubSpot stores them in your Academy profile.
The 90-day promise: If every team member spends 1 hour per week on the Friday Training Hour and finishes one path phase per month, by end of quarter 1 the team holds 5 new certifications, ~25 CPE credits each, and Branson has a real EA study runway. That's a working training engine — without AZ doing any hands-on teaching.
AZDT Team Training Library · Curated for AZ · Review quarterly at OKR sprint retro · v1.0 (May 30, 2026) · Pairs with the AZDT Firm Roadmap and Revenue Process Flowcharts
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