Tax Sophomore

Just a girl who loves provisions. And people.

Over a decade ago, I was hired as a senior assurance associate to compile 10K item 8 (financial statements) of a NYSE traded insurance company, tax provision excluded. The corporate controller in another state handled all things tax, until the restructuring.

Six months into my job, I was the sole member of our tax department of one, staring at an eleven-company consolidated provision and told I would be replicating the provision every 3 months. In excel. With a 2 week deadline. While compiling the rest of the financials. During my 5 year stint as an auditor (top 10 firm), I had helped prepare maybe 100 tax returns, very few of them C corps, none of them consolidated. To say I didn’t know what I was doing would be a huge understatement.

Streamlining that consolidated provision in excel became my full time job. I built the provision from scratch many times, looking for any little efficiencies, any way to shave off 2 hours, or even 30 minutes. I loved every minute of it. Mastering tax provisions became my thing.

I sacrificed my career to adopt a kiddo out of the foster care system, halting my career to remain at the senior level in order to address his significant mental health needs. When he was stable, I would work. When he struggled, I stopped. During one of those breaks, I went to school and got my Masters in Taxation.

Coming back to public accounting I learned that people have a love/hate relationship with provisions. I saw intelligent people stressing over minor details, beating themselves up over processes that no one had ever broken down and taught them, for provisions that they work on maybe 2 or 3 a year. Working for 7 years on nothing but provisions and consolidations and then jumping back to public made me realize that deep understanding of provisions at the senior/manager/sr manager level is unusual and that there was a thirst for knowledge.

So many times in my own career, I’ve found myself broken down at work. Struggling to balance my son’s explosive violent outbursts, his trips to behavioral health hospitals for self harm, employers flabbergasted by long periods of my stellar work followed by work that was so terrible it wasn’t even acceptable. I struggled to rub two thoughts together, keep my job, and find resources for my son. Many times it was one person who got me through a dark period. Maybe a coworker, a social worker. For my darkest period it was the barista who served me my coffee every week after my son’s therapy appointment that kept me going.

I don’t know what you are going through. You may struggle with confidence at work. You may be just struggling to understand provisions better. But maybe you have other things going on in your life. At some point, we all need a little help.

If this website eases your stress, then pass it on. Take time to listen to a co-worker, or to teach your staff. You never know what someone is going through.

Sophos: wise, Moros: foolish. Stay humble. Stay connected.

Tax Sophomore