Riveron Multiplies Value With Integrated Bloomberg Tax Products
Riveron Consulting, a national business advisory firm specializing in accounting, finance, technology, and operations, initially wanted to enhance its provision reporting capabilities for its clients. But after exploring the integrated suite of solutions offered by Bloomberg Tax, the firm realized the possibilities of using automation to improve multiple areas of their reporting and advisory offerings.
Rebecca Hawkins, an associate director at Riveron with a rich background in tax technology, spearheaded the transition from spreadsheets to advanced solutions offered by Bloomberg Tax.
Challenge: Highly manual provision processes and duplicative calculations
Before adopting Bloomberg Tax’s suite of products, Riveron relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets to complete tax provision work for their clients. This method was time-consuming and inefficient.
Excel also makes it more difficult to use the state-by-state approach for calculating deferred taxes, forcing reliance on the outdated blended rate approach.
“Using a blended state rate for your deferred tax calculations might work at a high level, but it doesn’t align with the tax return as it will be filed,” Hawkins said. “Plus, if you’re using Excel, there’s always the possibility of having errors in your Excel file.”
Hawkins also uncovered inefficiencies when it came to managing data across tax functions.
“So many people spend a lot of time working on the tax provision and then, when it’s time to do the tax return, the tax return preparers actually redo almost all of the work,” Hawkins said.
She wanted to find a software solution that could seamlessly connect the calculations done in work papers to the provision, the return, or any other outputs – reducing the need for duplicative work.
Finally, Hawkins was looking for software that wouldn’t require a long, complicated implementation. Due to her previous experience with tax technology, she knew that the key to successful implementation and adoption was ease of use.
Solution: Leverage easy-to-learn, integrated tax solutions from Bloomberg Tax
When Hawkins first started to explore Bloomberg Tax Provision, she was immediately impressed by its utility and time to value. Unlike other products she had used, it offered a straightforward implementation that did not require a lot of time or effort.
“Bloomberg Tax Provision blew me away because of its simplicity and ability to be implemented without a huge time commitment,” Hawkins said. “I was also able to teach others in our group how to use it because it’s just very user-friendly, and there’s not a steep learning curve.”
Hawkins was particularly happy to see that Bloomberg Tax Provision allows users to create their provision in a way that aligns with the tax return.
“It makes it easy to create filing groups based on how the tax return is filed and ensure you’re always using the correct apportionment percentages and tax rates,” Hawkins said. “Bloomberg Tax Provision allows you to use a return rate for what is going to your current provision as well as an end-of-year rate, and then it provides detailed reports that show all of this information.”
The integration capabilities of Bloomberg Tax products were also a game changer for Riveron. With access to Bloomberg Tax Research, the firm could pull accurate tax rates directly into their provision software, significantly reducing the time spent on manual data entry.
“You can import the current tax rates into your tax provision calculations, so you can feel comfortable knowing you have the most up-to-date information without having to check multiple state websites or foreign jurisdictions for tax rate changes,” Hawkins said.
Becky Hawkins
Riveron
Riveron was also an early adopter of Bloomberg Tax Workpapers – a first-of-its-kind workpapers software and data management tool. The essential integrations included with Bloomberg Tax Workpapers empowered Riveron to go beyond its initial goal of improving the provision process.
“Every client I work with has a different format for the information coming out of their accounting system, which often results in duplicative calculations for the tax provision and tax return,” Hawkins said. “Bloomberg Tax Workpapers gives us the ability to have both sets of information at our fingertips without having to redo work multiple times each year. It’s a great resource no matter what a firm uses for its tax compliance software.”
Bloomberg Tax Workpapers also allows users to leverage automation to improve any number of tax processes.
“It makes it easy to calculate M-1s coming from a trial balance source or another source of information, and it also allows you do things like cleaning up your trial balance for purposes of importing into your tax return software,” Hawkins said. “It has so many different facets, I think anybody can find a use for it.”
Results: Significant time savings and confidence in deliverables
Implementing the Bloomberg Tax suite of solutions led to noticeable improvements in efficiency and client service for Riveron. The combined value of the Bloomberg Tax Research, Provision, and Workpapers solutions allows for a more seamless experience between tax functions both within the firm and externally for clients.
When it comes to the provision process, Hawkins was most excited about the end product she could deliver to clients and auditors by using Bloomberg Tax Provision.
“It makes your tax provision a better product and a deliverable for your tax team to be proud of,” Hawkins said. “When auditors have questions, we can simply run a different report or show them how the current reports work. With Excel, it could be a little more laborious to explain how the calculations work.”
She notes the functionalities that provide the most time savings include:
- Automated calculations that update as soon as new data is available
- Tax rates imported from a trusted source (Bloomberg Tax Research)
- Data management with Bloomberg Tax Workpapers to power multiple tax functions
On the audit side, the Riveron team and its clients appreciate the ability to quickly update reports, respond to auditor questions, and keep the audit moving.
Finally, Hawkins believes the implementation and adoption of Bloomberg Tax software are a true differentiator.
“This software, especially on the tax provision side, is so much more straightforward than any other implementation of tax software that I’ve done out there,” Hawkins said. “I think that is a huge part of the value. Not only is it simple, but also the implementation of some of these pieces is really an easy lift.”
[With tax tools that talk to each other and share data through key integrations, Bloomberg Tax’s suite of solutions gives you confidence that everything from calculations to reporting will be accurate. Request a demo.]
Next steps: The Bloomberg Tax Certified Implementer Program
Looking forward, Riveron is committed to supporting other tax professionals’ efforts to optimize their processes with Bloomberg Tax solutions through the Certified Implementer Program.
Hawkins believes that becoming a certified implementer enhances her advisory role and helps more clients gain efficiencies, reduce risk, and improve controls.
“I recommend Bloomberg Tax to anybody I meet in the tax world because it’s a good value,” Hawkin said. “As a certified implementer, my goal is for companies to start using Bloomberg Tax software and start reaping the benefits, too.”