Xero Awards Canada 2023: How to enter
Here’s what you need to know to submit a nomination for a Xero Award. Nominations are open until August 24, 2023.
Here are the nine categories in this year’s Xero Awards. Under each award, you’ll find the full entry criteria, the questions you need to answer, and a link to submit your nomination. We suggest using the list of questions to draft your nomination with your team before submitting your entry. Entry rules apply.
Awards criteria: Accountants and bookkeepers
Awards criteria: App partners
Awards criteria: Accountants and bookkeepers
Accounting Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the accounting practice. This award recognizes a Xero accounting partner based in Canada who has used Xero to offer the best value added service(s) to their clients between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner
- Your accounting practice must be based in Canada
- You must be licensed to practise public accounting by a provincial CPA body.
- You must predominantly offer accounting services
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Client care: You help clients adapt their business model to thrive.
- Innovation: You deliver effective value-added services and lead the way on industry changes.
- Knowledge sharing: You demonstrate continued learning by remaining certified and staying up to date with Xero announcements and product releases.
- Digitalization: You demonstrate how the practice makes good use of one or more Xero products and/or Xero practice tools, including other business apps that connect to Xero.
- Xero advocate: You show a commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Xero.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Client care (max 300 words)
How have you taken a client-centric approach to consistently deliver exceptional customer service to help them meet their goals?
You could talk about:
- helping clients adapt their business model to thrive over the past year
- client training: educating clients on using Xero to make informed business decisions
- client feedback: measuring satisfaction and implementing improvements from feedback
- any customer testimonials or references to help demonstrate your client-centric approach
Innovation (max 300 words)
How has your firm used Xero’s suite of products and features to deliver value-added services to lead the way?
You could talk about:
- Xero’s products and practice tools
- Xero practice tools: Xero HQ, Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers, Xero Tax
- Xero products: Xero for your practice, Xero Projects, Xero Expenses, Xero Payroll, HubDoc, CIS, Pay with Wise, Xero Analytics or Analytics Plus, and Planday.
- Xero Tax: getting your practice and clients ready and filing
- using Xero features to manage client cash flow
- offering value-added advisory services
Knowledge sharing (max 300 words)
How has your practice demonstrated a commitment to maintaining, increasing and sharing Xero knowledge with clients and the wider community?
You could talk about:
- Xero certifications and industry badges: advisory, migration, payroll certifications. Xero Tax, cash flow and other industry badges
- events and webinars: Xerocon, Xero Central, quarterly product updates and more
- client demos and education
Digitization (max 300 words)
How has your firm adopted technology to gain practice efficiencies and recommended third-party apps to boost client service?
You could talk about:
- implementing technology to improve internal workflows
- using technology to enhance client onboarding and communication
- recommending and implementing the right apps for clients
Xero advocate (max 300 words)
How has your firm shown a commitment to migrating and implementing Xero for clients while also raising awareness of Xero’s benefits?
You could talk about:
- marketing strategy: website ation, social media and Xero advisor directory listing
- migrating and onboarding clients to Xero
- your business strategy for continuing to thrive and grow using Xero
Bookkeeping Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the bookkeeping practice. This award recognizes a Xero bookkeeping partner based in Canada who has used Xero to offer the best value added service(s) to their clients from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner
- Your bookkeeping practice must be based in Canada
- You must offer predominantly bookkeeping services
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Client care: You help clients adapt their business model to thrive.
- Innovation: You deliver effective value-added services and lead the way on industry changes.
- Knowledge sharing: You demonstrate continued learning by remaining certified and staying up to date with Xero announcements and product releases.
- Digitalization: You demonstrate how the practice makes good use of one or more Xero products and/or Xero practice tools, including other business apps that connect to Xero.
- Xero advocate: You show a commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Xero.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Client care (max 300 words)
How have you taken a client-centric approach to consistently deliver exceptional customer service to help them meet their goals?
You could talk about:
- helping clients adapt their business model to thrive over the past year
- client training: educating clients on using Xero to make informed business decisions
- client feedback: measuring satisfaction and implementing improvements from feedback
- any customer testimonials or references to help demonstrate your client-centric approach
Innovation (max 300 words)
How has your firm used Xero’s suite of products and features to deliver value-added services to lead the way?
You could talk about:
- Xero’s products and practice tools
- Xero Practice tools: Xero HQ, Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers, Xero Tax
- Xero products: Xero for your practice, Xero Projects, Xero Expenses, Xero Payroll, HubDoc, CIS, Pay with Wise, Xero Analytics or Analytics Plus, and Planday.
- Xero Tax: getting your practice and clients ready and filing
- using Xero features to manage client cash flow
- offering value-added advisory services
Knowledge sharing (max 300 words)
How has your practice demonstrated a commitment to maintaining, increasing and sharing Xero knowledge with clients and the wider community?
You could talk about:
- Xero certifications and industry badges: advisory, migration, payroll certifications. Xero Tax, cash flow and other industry badges
- events and webinars: Xerocon, Xero Central, quarterly product updates and more
- client demos and education
Digitization (max 300 words)
How has your firm adopted technology to gain practice efficiencies and recommended third-party apps to boost client service?
You could talk about:
- implementing technology to improve internal workflows
- using technology to enhance client onboarding and communication
- recommending and implementing the right apps for clients
Xero advocate (max 300 words)
How has your firm shown a commitment to migrating and implementing Xero for clients while also raising awareness of Xero’s benefits?
You could talk about:
- marketing strategy: website optimization, social media and Xero advisor directory listing
- migrating and onboarding clients to Xero
- your business strategy for continuing to thrive and grow using Xero
Enterprise or National Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the accounting or bookkeeping practice. This award recognizes a Xero enterprise partner based in Canada who has used Xero to drive efficiencies in their firm and offer the best value added service(s) to their clients from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner at gold partner status or above.
- You must have more than three sites nationwide or be made up of independent accounting firms nationwide.
- You must have a national/key account relationship with Xero.
- You must have more than 50 employees.
- Your practice must be based in Canada.
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Client care: You help clients adapt their business model to thrive.
- Innovation: You deliver effective value-added services and lead the way on industry changes.
- Knowledge sharing: You demonstrate continued learning by remaining certified and staying up to date with Xero announcements and product releases.
- Digitalization: You demonstrate how the practice makes good use of one or more Xero products and/or Xero practice tools, including other business apps that connect to Xero.
- Xero advocate: You show a commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Xero.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Client care (max 300 words)
How have you taken a client-centric approach to consistently deliver exceptional customer service to help them meet their goals?
You could talk about:
- helping clients adapt their business model to thrive over the past year
- client training: educating clients on using Xero to make informed business decisions
- client feedback: measuring satisfaction and implementing improvements from feedback
- any customer testimonials or references to help demonstrate your client-centric approach
Innovation (max 300 words)
How has your firm used Xero’s suite of products and features to deliver value-added services to lead the way?
You could talk about:
- Xero’s products and practice tools
- Xero practice tools: Xero HQ, Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers, Xero Tax
- Xero products: Xero for your practice, Xero Projects, Xero Expenses, Xero Payroll, HubDoc, CIS, Pay with Wise, Xero Analytics or Analytics Plus, and Planday.
- Xero Tax: getting your practice and clients ready and filing
- using Xero features to manage client cash flow
- offering value-added advisory services
Knowledge sharing (max 300 words)
How has your practice demonstrated a commitment to maintaining, increasing and sharing Xero knowledge with clients and the wider community?
You could talk about:
- Xero certifications and industry badges: advisory, migration, payroll certifications. Xero Tax, cash flow and other industry badges
- events and webinars: Xerocon, Xero Central, quarterly product updates and more
- client demos and education
Digitization (max 300 words)
How has your firm adopted technology to gain practice efficiencies and recommended third-party apps to boost client service?
You could talk about:
- implementing technology to improve internal workflows
- using technology to enhance client onboarding and communication
- recommending and implementing the right apps for clients
Xero advocate (max 300 words)
How has your firm shown a commitment to migrating and implementing Xero for clients while also raising awareness of Xero’s benefits?
You could talk about:
- marketing strategy: website optimization, social media and Xero advisor directory listing
- migrating and onboarding clients to Xero
- your business strategy for continuing to thrive and grow using Xero
Cloud Champion of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the accounting or bookkeeping practice. This award recognizes a Xero partner based in Canada working within the cloud during the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner
- Your practice must be based in Canada.
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Why cloud: You demonstrate how the practice makes good use of one or more Xero products and/or Xero practice tools.
- Challenges and benefits of cloud: You demonstrate your experience in the cloud, how you champion Xero’s products and tools in your processes and recognize how it impacts your practice.
- Practice’s core app stack: You use apps to boost productivity and provide additional value to clients.
- Innovation: You deliver effective value-added services and lead the way on industry changes.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Why cloud (max 300 words)
Tell us why you chose to take your business 100% into the cloud.
You could talk about:
- problems you faced that turned you to the cloud
- how your practice is using Xero’s suite of tools including Xero HQ, Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers and Xero Tax
Challenges and benefits of cloud (max 300 words)
What have been the challenges and benefits of being 100% cloud-based in your business?
Practice’s core app stack (max 300 words)
What is your practice’s core app stack and how do they help boost your business performance?
Innovation (max 300 words)
How are you keeping up with the innovation of the industry?
You could talk about:
- implementing technology to improve internal workflows
- using technology to enhance client onboarding and communication
- recommending and implementing the right apps for clients
Innovative Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the accounting or bookkeeping practice. This award recognizes a Xero partner based in Canada who has demonstrated innovation in their business during the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner
- Your practice must be based in Canada.
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Business innovation and excellence: You demonstrate effective value-added services and lead the way with industry changes.
- Background: You show clear understanding of issues faced by your client(s) or your firm that led to the processes or tools that helped address the challenges.
- Method and challenges: You demonstrate how your practice implemented technology to improve internal workflows.
- Results: Your innovative solution(s) demonstrated a positive impact or difference to your business and/or your clients.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Business innovation and excellence (max 300 words)
How has your business demonstrated innovation and strived for excellence in the industry?
You could talk about:
- Xero’s products and practice tools
- offering value-added advisory services
- client demos and education
- Xero certifications and industry badges: advisory, migration, payroll certifications. Xero Tax, cash flow and other industry badges
Background (max 300 words)
What led you to come up with one or more innovative processes or initiatives?
You could talk about:
- the issues facing you or your client(s) that led to your innovative process(es) or initiative(s)
- Xero’s products and practice tools that help address this process or initiative
Method and challenges (max 300 words)
How did you go about implementing this innovation? What challenges did you overcome along the way?
You could talk about:
- implementing technology to improve internal workflows
- using technology to enhance client onboarding and communication
- recommending and implementing the right apps for clients
Results (max 300 words)
How did this innovation better your business and/or that of your clients? What were the results?
You could talk about:
- how the shift in the new process helped both you and the client
- client feedback: measuring satisfaction and implementing improvements from feedback
- any customer testimonials or references to help demonstrate the results achieved
Community Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the accounting or bookkeeping practice. This award recognizes a Xero partner based in Canada who has demonstrated a commitment to community in their business during the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- You must be a Xero partner
- Your practice must be based in Canada
- Your practice can be any size and at any partner status
- The program or initiative must have been completed between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, or if it’s ongoing, the results from between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023 must be shown
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Reason: You share who you and your firm chose to support and why it’s important for you to support this person, group of people, or cause.
- Action: You demonstrate how your practice has taken action to help support the person, group of people, or cause.
- Positive impact: You delivered effective value-added impact in the past year to the person, group of people, or cause.
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Reason (max 300 words)
Why did you choose to support this person, group of people, or cause?
Action (max 300 words)
How have you or your firm supported this person, group of people, or cause over the last 12 months?
Positive impact (max 300 words)
What positive impact and difference have you and your practice made as a result?
Awards criteria: App partners
Practice App Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the app partner. This award recognizes an app partner based in Canada with a focus on improving the lives and livelihoods of Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners during the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- Must be a fully certified Xero app partner, with their app listed on the Xero App Store in Canada.
- The app must have been commercially available (not in beta version) since April 1, 2022 or earlier than that.
- Your customer base should mostly consist of accountants and bookkeepers, or your software should be focused on the processes involved in the practice space.
- The app partner must be on the latest Xero App Store partner terms.
- The app partner must have a permanent Canada presence with at least one employee in Canada.
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Client care: You provide exceptional client service to support customers meeting business needs
- Innovation: Your app demonstrates design excellence, ongoing technical improvements and a robust integration with Xero’s API
- Knowledge sharing: You demonstrate the value of using your app and cloud tools by offering programs of engagement for your customers
- Xero aficionado: You show commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Xero and app partner programs
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Practice App Partner of the Year (max 300–500 words)
Why do you deserve to be awarded the Practice App Partner of the Year? Please state your case.
Emerging App Partner of the Year
Nominations for this award category need to be made by the app partner. This award recognizes an app partner based in Canada with a focus on improving the lives and livelihoods of Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners during the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Eligibility requirements
- Must be a fully certified Xero app partner, with their app listed on the Xero App Store in Canada.
- The app must have been commercially available (not in beta version) since April 1, 2022 or earlier than that.
- Your app must have been launched in the Xero App Store within the last 12 months.
- The app partner must be on the latest Xero App Store partner terms.
What we’re looking for
Assessment is based on the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. These are the criteria we’ll use when assessing nominations:
- Client care: You provide exceptional client service to support customers meeting business needs
- Innovation: Your app demonstrates design excellence, ongoing technical improvements and a robust integration with Xero’s API
- Knowledge sharing: You demonstrate the value of using your app and cloud tools by offering programs of engagement for your customers
- Xero aficionado: You show commitment to raising awareness of the benefits of Xero and app partner programs
Questions you'll need to answer when submitting your nomination:
Emerging App Partner of the Year (max 300–500 words)
Why do you deserve to be awarded the Emerging App Partner of the Year? Please state your case.
If you have any questions please contact your Xero account manager or email us