The Level 5 Methodology

Originally developed by Edi Osborne* at Mentor Plus and taught live to thousands of accountants in North America, the program was designed to give accountants the tools they needed to deliver the kind of repeatable, value-added services their clients crave.

This training, now available online and licensed for use by Geni Whitehouse at The Impactful Advisor, takes accountants from their traditional service offerings at Level 1 to continuous improvement at Level 5, enabling accountants to move their clients from hindsight to foresight.

The online training includes everything you need to sit down and begin working with your clients immediately. Course graduates have changed their practice and seen increased revenues by using just one of the more than 100 tools.

“I look forward to learning more from you…. You’ve made a huge impact on my firm and on my clients this year, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.” - Jonathan Godwin, CPA & Level 5 Graduate

How does the online training work?

This toolset is divided into levels with introductory conceptual videos in each main section plus tutorials, downloadable documents, spreadsheets, and even presentations which are licensed for use by you. The training can be taken at your own pace with access to the videos available for as long as your subscription is current. This program is designed to help you gain a new mindset, provide you with a new skillset, and leverage new tools in helping your clients achieve their business goals. At the completion of the training, you are eligible to take the Level 5 Certification Exam to gain certification. (This can be extended to the AIA (Accredited Impactful Advisor) certification for those who are looking to extend the training beyond the course.

The Level 5 Online Training Roadmap:

  • Getting Started

  • Level 1 - Technical Foundation

    Level 1 is where every accounting firm lives. It’s the technical foundation that makes up the profession's comfort zone. It’s something accountants are really good at, so naturally, they gravitate towards it.

    At the same time, it’s difficult to differentiate services at this level; being good at Level 1 is an assumed competency. Clients expect (and rightly so) that you excel at the preparation and delivery of financial statements, taxes, and audits. However, with proper training in our proven Level 5 methodology, you can add tremendous value even at this level.

  • Level 2 - Financial Fluency (What if)

    Level 2 is about hindsight (understanding what has already happened) AND insight (understanding the implications of those outcomes going forward).
    We start with financial fluency: helping clients better understand their businesses from a financial perspective. We then
    ​take that fluency skill and do some “what if” calculations around the most critical ratios in a client's business. With the right mindset, tool set, and skill set, gained from online training in our complete Level 5 Advisor methodology, you can help your clients create the business of their dreams.

  • Level 3 (3A and 3B) - Discovery

    At Level 3 we work with clients from a strategic perspective to understand their vision, and ensure they have a clear plan for executing that vision. Borrowing from Stephen Covey, “beginning with the end in mind” (knowing where your clients want to go in the future), helps you tailor information to support strategically focused decision-making. It’s the difference between managing the business day-to-day and managing toward a desired outcome.


    In Level 3, the focus shifts from analyzing the past to planning for the future. This level is divided into two sections: Level 3A is about uncovering opportunities in your client's business while Level 3B is about planning and facilitation. 


    By investing in Level 5 training (an investment you can recoup with a single client engagement), you will be setting yourself apart from every other accountant in your market.

  • Case Study

  • Level 4 - Linking Activities to Outcomes

    Level 4 looks at the plans developed at Level 3 and translates the big picture goals into measurable activities called KPIs (key performance indicators). We establish a performance measurement system to monitor the KPIs. Those KPIs are designed to support management decisions.

    Equally valuable, from a client perspective we are able to provide the team with strategically relevant feedback about how they are performing. We implement the feedback loop through the use of custom dashboards. At this stage, with the tools and support available from Level 5 training, you will be creating an actionable plan that everyone in your client's company can follow.

  • Level 5 - Continuous Improvement

    Level 5 is about the ongoing review of measures and outcomes to determine if clients are on track to achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves.
    ​
    As market conditions change or your client's goals and strategies get adjusted, you'll end up helping clients develop new measures or realign the ones they already have in place to provide the decision support needed to run the company more effectively. Thanks to your Level 5 Certified Advisor training, you will at last be able to call yourself a true Trusted Advisor.

  • Graduation / Certification

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* Edi Osborne describes her approach to advisory services (and the basis of the Level 5 Advisory Methodology) in her business fable, “Firm Forward: A Journey From the Land of Compliance to the World of Reliance ” which is available on Amazon.

What our recent graduate had to say…

“The Level 5 Certified Advisor course is the first program I’ve taken that truly delivered on what it promised. I now feel fully equipped with the tools to support my clients with advisory services confidently. The material is evergreen, and I can clearly see how these tools apply across industries and at every stage of a company’s life cycle.

What sets this course apart is that it moved beyond the vague suggestion we often hear, “you should be offering advisory services.” Instead, it provided a clear, systematic, and repeatable framework for what that actually looks like in practice. With this structure in place, the only barrier to success in advisory is allowing other obstacles to get in the way.

After taking courses from others in the past that left me disappointed and no better equipped, I was hesitant to invest in a course again. When I heard Geni speak about this program, I decided to give it one last try. I am so glad that I did. This course is exactly what I had been searching for, and I am forever grateful.”

- U. Williams, 2025 Level 5 Graduate & Certified Advisor