Maintaining Tax Provision time periods
Your Tax Provision system includes the TIMEPER dimension, which keeps descriptions of time period symbols up to date automatically during period-end rollovers. For more information on rollover, see “Running the Tax Provision rollover”.
Understanding Tax Provision time period conventions
Tax Provision time periods are set up in standard format. The time period dimension accommodates the following:
- Actuals—Actuals are based on a monthly or quarterly period and hold the financial activity and performance of your organization for that particular time period. Actuals are the true snapshot of the financial activity of your organization.
- Return—Return periods are annual and hold the return to provision/prior year adjustment values for your organization.
Note: You should not add any symbols manually to any of the time period hierarchies in the Timeper dimension. Tax Provision creates the time period symbols required by the system during system rollovers and assigns them to the appropriate parent in the hierarchy.
The time period symbols are created using standard Longview naming conventions. Symbols are created and data is stored for monthly, quarterly, and yearly totals, as well as year-to-date totals.
Time periods follow the naming conventions in the following table:
| Time period symbols | Naming convention |
|---|---|
| Year to Date Symbols | “A” + 2 Digit Year Designation + 2 Digit Period Designation + “YTD” Example: A1403YTD – March 2014 YTD, A1406YTD –June 2014 YTD |
| Monthly Activity Symbols | “A” + 2 Digit Year Designation + 2 Digit Period Designation Example: A1403 – Accounting Period 3 - 2014, A1406 –Accounting Period 6 - 2014 |
| Quarterly Activity Symbols | “A” + 2 Digit Year Designation + 2 Digit Quarter Designation Example: A14Q1 – March 2014, A14Q2 – June 2014 |
Actuals data is loaded to the year-to-date symbols (YTD). The Longview Math Server calculates the change between monthly YTD data.
For example:
A1403 = A1403YTD – A1402YTD
Understanding Tax Provision time period hierarchies
Tax Provision contains the following multiple time period hierarchies:
- main time period hierarchies (Actual Columns and Return Time Periods)
- alternate time period hierarchies (ActualYTD, CYTAXPER, PYTAXPER, RTNTAXPER, and IPTAXPER)
- other time period hierarchies (used to store data not specific to a time period)
Actual Time Periods (ACTUAL) hierarchy
The ACTUAL hierarchy contains seven years of data representing the current year as well as six years of historical data. For example, a monthly system currently in December 2014 contains the following symbols for one year:
ACTUAL - Actual Time Periods
A14Open - Opening 14
AYr14 - 2014
+A14Q1 - Qtr 114
+A1401 - Jan 14
+A1402 - Feb 14
+A1403 - Mar 14
+A14Q2 - Qtr 2 14
+A1404 - Apr 14
+A1405 - May 14
+A1406 - Jun 14
+A14Q3 - Qtr 314
+A1407 - Jul 14
+A1408 - Aug 14
+A1409 - Sep 14
+A14Q4 - Qtr 414
+A1410 - Oct 14
+A1411 - Nov 14
+A1412 - Dec 14
CP14 - Curr Per 14
A1401YTD - Jan 14 YTD
A1402YTD - Feb 14 YTD
A1403YTD - Mar 14 YTD
A1404YTD - Apr 14 YTD
A1405YTD - May 14 YTD
A1406YTD - Jun 14 YTD
A1407YTD - Jul 14 YTD
A1408YTD - Aug 14 YTD
A1409YTD - Sep 14 YTD
A1410YTD - Oct 14 YTD
A1411YTD - Nov 14 YTD
A1412YTD - Dec 14 YTD
Actual Year-to-date Time Periods (ActualYTD) hierarchy
The ActualYTD hierarchy contains seven years of data representing the current year as well as six years of historical data. For example, a monthly system currently in December 2014 contains the following symbols for one year:
ActualYTD - Actual YTD Time Periods
CP14 - Curr Per 14
A1401YTD - Jan 14 YTD
A1402YTD - Feb 14 YTD
A1403YTD - Mar 14 YTD
A1404YTD - Apr 14 YTD
A1405YTD - May 14 YTD
A1406YTD - Jun 14 YTD
A1407YTD - Jul 14 YTD
A1408YTD - Aug 14 YTD
A1409YTD - Sep 14 YTD
A1410YTD - Oct 14 YTD
A1411YTD - Nov 14 YTD
A1412YTD - Dec 14 YTD
Tax Process Current Period (CYTAXPER) hierarchy
The CYTAXPER hierarchy contains the current period. The following is an example of the hierarchy, assuming the system is in December 2014:
CYTAXPER - Tax Process Current Period
A1412YTD - Dec 14 YTD
Tax Process Prior Year End Period (PYTAXPER) hierarchy
The PYTAXPER hierarchy contains the prior year end period. The following is an example of the hierarchy, assuming the system is in December 2014:
PYTAXPER - Tax Process Prior Year End Period
A1312YTD - Dec 13 YTD
Return (RETURN) hierarchy
The RETURN hierarchy contains seven return symbols representing the current return period and six return periods of historical data. The Tax Provision system in 2014, for example, contains return time periods for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. For example, a system currently in December 2014 contains the following symbols for one year:
RETURN - Return Time Periods
RYr2013 - Return 2013
Tax Process Current Return Period (RTNTAXPER) hierarchy
The RTNTAXPER hierarchy contains the current return period. The following is an example of the hierarchy, assuming the system is in December 2014:
RTNTAXPER - Tax Process Current Return Period
RYR2013 - Return 2013
Tax Process Current Interim Period (IPTAXPER) hierarchy
The IPTAXPER hierarchy contains the current period if the current period is an interim period, or will not have any children when the current period is not an interim period. When in period 12, at year-end, there are no symbols assigned to IPTAXPER as this is not an interim period. When in periods 1 through 11, the current period is assigned to IPTTAXPER. The following is an example of the hierarchy, assuming the system is in December 2014 and is monthly:
IPTAXPER - Tax Process Current Interim Period (Leaf if Current Period is Not Interim)
The following is an example of the hierarchy, assuming the system is in January 2014 and is monthly.
IPTAXPER - Tax Process Current Interim Period (Leaf if Current Period is Not Interim)
A1401YTD - Jan 14 YTD
Working with Tax Provision time period descriptions
Tax Provision lets you update and review time period descriptions. If the fiscal year of your company is different than the calendar year, update the descriptions of the periods to match the fiscal year. For example if your fiscal year is April to March, change the descriptions of the periods starting with Period 1 as April ending with Period 12 as March.
Updating Tax Provision time period descriptions
Use the XCCC005 - Time Period Descriptions input app to define the time period descriptions used in symbols and attributes in your Tax Provision system.
This input app contains the following symbols in the ACCOUNTS dimension (across):
PeriodDescE—Period Description - English This column represents the English time period description. For example, for Period 4, “Apr”.
PeriodDescF—Period Description - Alternate This column represents the alternate language time period description. For example, for Period 4, “Avr”.
PeriodEndE—Period End Date - English This column represents the end date of the time period in English. For example, for Period 4, “April 30”.
PeriodEndF—Period End Date - Alternate This column represents the end date of the time period in the alternate language. For example, for Period 4, “le 30 avril”.
To update time period descriptions:
- In the Tax Provision navigation pane, click Administration.
- Expand System.
- Click XCCC005 - Time Period Descriptions.lvapp. The input app opens in the workspace.
- Enter the appropriate description for each time period.
Working with scenarios
Tax Provision lets you work with scenarios in order to model your data in theoretical current periods. Using a scenario time period allows you to work in a current period that is an alternate to the current period specified by the rollover.
Creating scenarios
You can use the Scenario Maintenance.lvapp to create new scenarios.
To create scenarios:
- In the Tax Provision navigation pane, click Administration.
- Expand Time Periods.
- Click Scenario Maintenance.lvapp. The app opens in the workspace.
- Click New.
Note: If this is the first time using the Scenario Maintenance.lvapp for your system, you are automatically directed to create a new scenario.
- Select a month and type a description for the new scenario.
- When you are finished, click Create. The new scenario appears in the list of scenarios.
- Do one of the following:
- To modify the scenario you just created, proceed to “Maintaining scenarios”
- To exit the app, click Close.
Field Description Scenario Select the scenario to modify.
To create a new Scenario period, see “Creating scenarios”
Description Modify the description of the scenario. Status Specify the status of the scenario using one of the following values:
- Locked—Users cannot modify data for this scenario. Scenarios specified as Locked are available for selection as the working period. For more information, see “Specifying the working period”
- Unlocked—Users can modify data for this scenario.
Associated Prior Year Period Select the prior year period for which to associate with the scenario. Associated Return Period Select the return period for which to associate with the scenario. Calculate Interim Select this option to include the scenario in the interim calculations. - Click Apply. The scenario is updated accordingly.
- Do one of the following:
- To modify another scenario, repeat step 4 to step 5 for each scenario you want to modify.
- To close the app, click Close.
Maintaining scenarios
You can use the Scenario Maintenance.lvapp to modify the description, status, associated prior year period, and associated return period of a scenario. You can also specify whether to include the scenario in interim calculations.
To maintain scenarios:
- In the Tax Provision navigation pane, click Administration.
- Expand Time Periods.
- Click Scenario Maintenance.lvapp. The app opens in the workspace.
- Complete the following fields:
Field Description Scenario Select the scenario to modify.
To create a new Scenario period, see Creating scenarios.
Description Modify the description of the scenario.
Status Specify the status of the scenario sing one of the following values:
- Locked – Users cannot modify data for this scenario. Scenarios specified as Locked are available for selection as the working period. For more information, see Specifying the working period.
- Unlocked – Users can modify data for this scenario.
Associated Prior Year Period Select the prior year period for which to associate with the scenario. Associated Return Period Select the return period for which to associate with the scenario. Calculate Interim Select this option to include the scenario in the interim calculations.
Initializing scenarios
You can use the Scenario Inititalization.lvapp to initialize the period-specific information and data for a scenario. You cannot initialize scenarios until you have created them. For more information on creating scenarios, see “Creating scenarios”.
Note: Before you initialize a scenario, use the Rollover and Scenario Setup editor to define relevant data intersections for the purpose of scenario initialization. For more information, see “Setting up rollover processes”.
To initialize scenarios:
- In the Tax Provision navigation pane, click Administration.
- Expand Time Periods.
- Click Scenario Initialization.lvapp. The app opens in the workspace.
- Complete the following fields:
Field Description Source Period Select the source period from which to copy the data for the scenario. Scenario Specify the scenario to receive the data from the source period. Populate Using Specify the method to use to populate the scenario: - Scenario Initialization—The scenario is populated using the initialization parameters as defined by the Scenario Initialization column in the Rollover and Scenario Setup editor.
- Period End Rollover—The scenario is populated using the initialization parameters as defined by the Period End Rollover column in the Rollover and Scenario Setup editor.
- Click OK. A confirmation dialog appears.
- Do one of the following:
- To initialize the scenario, click Initialize.
- To return to the main app, click Cancel.
Note: If your system uses different period-specific settings for this scenario, use the Period-Specific Setting.lvapp to modify the settings before you run calculations. For more information, see “Modifying period-specific settings”.