Amy Vetter, Xero's chief relationship officer, says certification signals to customers that partners have a greater level of technological know how. "We have gotten a big request from firm owners that they want they want to hire people that have particular skill set," she says.

Bookkeepers will be able to develop skills dealing with the wide variety of applications needed to serve small business offices. "It's a learning path for bookkeepers to help provide them skills for the future," Vetter says. That includes enabling them to understand tasks such as validating and mapping data.