Success Story - CNO Financial Group

Challenge

CNO Financial Group relied on 200+ Excel^® spreadsheets and manually input 200+ adjustments every quarter for tax provision and compliance reporting. Data manipulation required manual detective controls for completeness and accuracy. Completing this largely manual process created numerous challenges:

• Higher probability for spreadsheet errors, including hard-to-find broken links
• Deferred tax inventory not dynamically updated making reconciliation to the ledger difficult for quarterly reporting purposes
• 10Q/10K footnote support was primarily generated from linked Excel worksheets and manual adjustments
• Inability to quickly evaluate state tax impact for tax planning opportunities and re-domestications
• Lack of consistency in the chart of accounts used for RTP resulted in reporting classification differences and a prolonged year-end external audit
• Difficulty incorporating federal and state audit adjustments into tax reporting—particularly the impact on NOL carryforwards

Solution

CNO uses a technology-driven, agile solution to improve reporting quality and efficiency. Now, the team:

• Automates the trial balance load and processes all batches using CSC Corptax^® Data Exchange Manager
• Leverages CSC Corptax^® Office to push/pull financial adjustments between Corptax and the general ledger
• Dynamically populates 10Q/10K footnote supporting schedules and automates NOL carryforward and rollforward schedules
• Develops current and deferred state tax schedules with analytical reporting using the Corptax POV data connection
• Aligns RTP account mapping, ensuring consistency and minimizing unnecessary true-up adjustments
• Incorporates all federal and state audit adjustments in Corptax

Results

• Saves 40 hours per quarter on time spent loading trial balances
• Uses 30 vs. 200 Excel spreadsheets, improving general ledger information
• Saves 20 hours on year-end audit support by eliminating classification true-ups between the provision and corresponding tax return
• Reconciles deferred tax inventory to the trial balance without exception each quarter
• Efficiently prepares 10Q/10K footnote workpapers, gaining flexibility and accuracy for late adjustments
• Generates entity-level state tax current and deferred tax information quarterly to quickly assess tax planning opportunities
• Seamlessly incorporates federal audit adjustments from recently completed examinations into net operating loss rollforwards