In this episode, Panpilas Fischer returns and is joined by Utility Tax Titan Cavan Hayes to discuss accumulated deferred income taxes (ADIT), the role of depreciation, and the importance of data integrity. They explore the collaboration required between tax and regulatory teams to maintain accurate records and the challenges faced in ensuring that all elements align correctly. The conversation also delves into the evaluation of deferred taxes under APB 11 and FAS 109, as well as the implications of calculating ARAM. Our dynamic tax duo concludes with insights on the importance of maintaining a solid foundation for tax computations, regardless of rate change occurring.

Blake is joined by Scott Lampert, Craig Wheeler, and Tom Syner, an experienced tax trio with decades of supporting clients with tax expertise.

We're focusing on how maintaining an accurate historical tax basis and validating your accounting system configuration today, is elemental to being tax reform-ready when changes arise.

In this episode, Elhadj Bah welcomes special guest Panpilas Fischer to discuss the implications of potential corporate tax rate changes by reflecting on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. Panpilas gives us her war stories from her time as a Regulatory Tax Director when the TCJA "bomb" dropped and shares her insights for what could be coming soon with rate changes.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introducing Panpilas

04:17 - When the TCJA Bomb Dropped

10:29 - How Panpilas' Department Found Success During TCJA

19:04 - Comparing Past and Future Tax Changes

26:38 - Advice for Utility Tax Departments

34:34 - Final Thoughts

Key takeaways

• The 2017 tax reform posed significant challenges for utility companies.

• Accurate modeling is crucial for understanding the impact of tax changes.

• Starting with a correct baseline is essential for accurate calculations.

• Proactive preparation can mitigate surprises during tax law changes.

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Scott!

02:56 The Impact of 2017 Tax Reform on Utilities

05:48 Understanding the Complexity of Rate Changes

09:07 Modeling Approaches for Rate Changes

11:55 Inputs and Methodologies in Tax Modeling

15:12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Modeling Approaches

18:06 Key Considerations and Gotchas in Tax Modeling

20:57 Consolidated Rates and Their Challenges

24:04 Ensuring Accuracy in Forecasting Results

Let's talk Tax Reform!

The possibility of another round of federal tax reform is on the horizon. How will rate changes effect utility finance? For this new series of episodes, we're giving the mic to utility tax experts to walk us through it all.

• How utility tax teams are responding to discussions of federal tax rate changes.
• Lessons learned from the last major tax overhaul (TCJA 2017).
• Best practices for modeling tax rate changes and ensuring system readiness.
• Strategies to prepare teams and tax systems for upcoming reforms.

Key Takeaway: While tax reform is unpredictable, preparation doesn’t have to be. The utilities that start planning now will be best positioned to respond when new legislation takes effect.

00:00 - 01:15 | Introducing Pete!

01:16 - 04:10 | Pete's non-traditional background: From athletic training in the US Football League to technology consulting, Pete's wandering path to where he is today

04:11 - 06:30 | The importance of bridging the gap between the business and IT

06:31 - 14:01 | Pete's key success factors on large projects, including how you increase the "organizational capacity for change"

14:02 - 15:36 | Agile, waterfall, or hybrid - what's the right

15:37 - 24:20 | Data conversion issues - why do they cause project overages and delays, and how do you mitigate them?

24:21 - 31:50 | Reasons that projects are over budget and delayed:

31:51 - 36:55 | How to choose between using third parties or internal sourcing

36:56 - 40:22 | Thoughts on moving from on-prem to the cloud

40:22 - End | Recommended books, trainings, websites, and closing remarks

Kevin is a little different than our prior guests in that he is not solely focused on utility Finance automation. Rather, Kevin and his team are focused on improving the lives of everyone from the men and women doing the physical work to keep our electric infrastructure up and running, to the folks in the utility back office. He brings a wonderful perspective on how starting with the problem to be solved, and empathizing with the people that will be impacted, is much more likely to result in a successful end product that people enjoy using than starting with a tool and looking for problems to solve. I think you're going to love this episode with utility automation expert Kevin Hampton.

2:10 - Brief description with Kevin's role - his title and what he actually does

1:56 <- Joe's journey from tech-savvy accountant to leading the Finance Intelligent Automation Team

7:00 <- The accounting department's decision to move from "Citizen Development" to "Joe Development"

10:30 <- How Accounts Receivable used Microsoft Forms to transform from wrangling emails to organized processing of a structured AR data set (without burdening IT).

21:16 <- How RPA allows the team to take the structured data and complete the end-to-end process.

23:35 <- Using "Hours back to the business" as criteria for prioritizing automations.

25:00 <- The approval process for ensuring that adequate controls exist around the automations.

28:22 <- The team's proudest accomplishment - Revamping the "Rewards and Recognition" process for Corporate Accounting.

32:54 <- Automating the review and approval of spreadsheets that create journal entries.

35:36 <- "OpenAI is going to change everything in Finance." How the Finance Intelligent Automation team uses Bing generative AI to accelerate and simplify development.

43:15 <- Will PowerApps be the next Microsoft Excel?

46:35 <- Tools available to come up to speed on the latest technologies?

EDITOR'S NOTE: We made a mistake by mentioning the wrong email in our outro. Please send your questions, notes, comments, and interview suggestions to [email protected] 

11:30 - Introduction

12:54 - What's a Senior FinTech Automation Analyst (Analyst? Nope - Engineer!) and what do they do?

19:22 - Mike is an insta-hero - 2 weeks to create an automation the team had waited 1 year for! Auto-administration of email distribution lists.

21:29 - How do you differentiate between the tools Microsoft Power Platform - Power Automate, Power Apps, and Power BI?

27:31 - Do these new tools replace the "automations" from the good ol' days (macros and VBA)?

29:12 - Who owns the management and curation of automations after they are created?

•  Mike's philosophy - teach people how to automate the catching of fish
•  Power Automate "Flows" get put in "Solutions" that are monitored by dev ops.

32:40 - How do they go about building and nurturing an automation community of "citizen developers"?

•  Mike's Weekly (... or minutely) tips and tricks channel

37:18 - What processes are ripe for automation, and which are not?

40:30 - What's Mike most excited about that's coming down the automation pike?

•  OpenAI is exciting, but use it wisely.
•  A useful approach to handling large data sets.

44:00 - When should you use Python?

48:35 - How to Be Like Mike - where to turn to become an automation expert.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We made a mistake by mentioning the wrong email in our outro. Please send your questions, notes, comments, and interview suggestions to [email protected]

3:15 - What is a Sr. Manager of Tax Technology and what do they do?
    - To implement something, don't necessarily try to convert whatever was in the old system and put it in the new
    - Don't just automate an existing process and expect improvement to happen.
11:15 - What are the primary responsibilities of a Sr. Manager of Tax Technology?
    - She's "The Protector of the Realm"
    - Her job is to make sure everything stays on the rails
15:30 - Example of how she protects her tax technology investments
19:40 - How Yelena sleeps at night amid a complex functional and technological environment
28:48 - Where to allocate resources? Find the black boxes and eliminate them. WEC Energy Tax took a process that took 3 months and reduced it to less than one day.
34:10 - How Yelena's "laziness" leads to efficiency
37:05 - How to navigate through a "no" to get to a "yes" when asking for resources
43:40 - Yelena's proudest accomplishment: Their 2-hour monthly close.
50:14 -  A quick thank you note for the listeners!