Dealing With Complicated Spreadsheets.

• Author: Dunkley, Scott

This is the sixth installment of our Tax Technology Corner. As a corporate tax professional, you know how important technology is and how it's evolving at warp speed. With new regulatory and compliance initiatives in the federal, state, and international areas, landmark tax reform legislation, and globalization of tax monitoring and enforcement, keeping up with tax technology is not a luxury --it's a necessity. Each installment of this column will pair a taxpayer with a service provider. Together, in Q&A format, they'll tell a story about how they have worked together to solve a specific tax problem, implement a better solution, cut costs, or improve productivity. In this installment, Scott Dunkley, tax director at O.C. Tanner, and Stephen Day, a cofounder of Tax Prodigy, discuss how they dealt with complicated ASC 740 spreadsheets that had raised concerns from auditors. Michael Levin-Epstein, senior editor of Tax Executive, moderated the discussion.

Michael Levin-Epstein: Tell us about your companies.

Scott Dunkley: O.C. Tanner is a ninety-three-year-old company that's privately owned here in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company's primary business is strategic employee recognition and reward solutions for large multinational companies. We help people accomplish and appreciate great work in their jobs. As part of our Culture Cloud suite of applications and solutions, we provide various offerings that allow our clients to appreciate their employees and recognize them for the work they do. One of our oldest products is what we call service awards. The current product, named Yearbook, allows an employer to recognize an employee for, say, five or ten years of service. The recognition can include an emblem or trophy that we manufacture with the employer's logo on it. Many employers also offer a physical or digital Yearbook where peers, leaders, friends, and family can write congratulatory comments to the recipient. An employee can also choose some sort of merchandise through a catalog of awards determined by the employer.

We also have a platform that allows employers to recognize their employees for great work. It's a points-based system, so if you've done a great job on a project, your manager can nominate you for an award, which has a point value associated with it. The employee can then accumulate points over time and redeem them for an award of their choice. For example, it could be a sea kayak, golf clubs, or an experience like going on a cruise. There are all kinds of things that points can be redeemed for.

We also have a well-being offering and a leadership product that helps leaders with their one-on-ones. We also help with corporate celebrations. So, if a...