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Yes. Just remember that a human made it, so a human can figure it out.
Takes 5-7 years to not feel dumb all the time. Don't worry. It would be alarming if you were comfortable. Enjoy opportunities that force you completely out of comfort zone. It's those opportunities that you will find to be the most valuable.
Staff reviewing provisions ?
Same position, staff 2 and have been heavily involved in multiple provisions this busy season. It's overwhelming at times, but I know the info is valuable and will benefit me in the long run.
OP (and others) - you will never understand it all, so stop trying to reach that goal. Instead, try to understand more than you do now. Try to get somewhat comfortable with a rate rec. then move on to deferreds. Then rtp. Take baby steps. You don't need to know it all! Just learn what you can. If you leave and go industry to a corporate tax dept, odds are high you'll be involved in provision at least a bit, so use your time in public to learn as much as you can.
Yeah I prepared a complex provision and realized it was over my head. I too hope it gets easier, OP.
You really should be tying ending balances on your deferreds. For example, your ending deferred balance for depreciation would be equal to the difference between your aggregate book basis and your tax basis in fixed assets, multiplied by the tax rate. Your current year activity is simply BoY balance minus end of year balance. That change is your deferred provision or benefit.
I hope my managers don't regret putting me on this engagement :(
Yes, gets easier. The more you do the better
No better time to start them than as staff. They start to think of it conceptually as opposed to "where do I get this number to put in this cell."
Provisions are impossible I'm so lost
I feel like I'm not learning anything because I still don't understand
My only worry is that I won't last 5-7 years to understand it all. 😭
What dont u understand? U have deferred tax balances that need to reconcile to changes in balance sheet items, an effective tax rate rec that includes permanent differences and differences with foreign tax rates, a payable that should reconcile to payments and accruals,, and an income tax provision that is simply your effective tax rate times your pre-tax income..::
I don't understand the timing and what I'm testing. PTR- is that last years provision to the 2015 return? Why do we even bother testing that? When is ETR calculated? Is it using the same balances as the provision?
And when is the provision even calculated? What is the relation to the PTR on the provision and the ETR? Are you supposed to tie them to each other?
How do I tie out current year activity of deferreds?
^ that's probably my most pressing question
If you simply agree your current year activity without ever reconciling your ending balance, the risk is your deferreds are misstated.
But doesn't the change tie to some EGA? I'm pretty sure we tie like 50 beginning and end balances so we're 800% covered