Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst:

Company: Thomson Reuters, Stamford, CT
Company Description: Thomson Reuters provides professionals with the intelligence, technology and human expertise they need to find trusted answers. We enable professionals in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, and media markets to make the decisions that matter most, all powered by the world's most trusted news organization.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Content
Nomination Sub Category: General Reference Service

Nomination Title: Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst: US GAAP – Accounting for Income Taxes

Checkpoint Catalyst: US GAAP is the next generation of online research products that gives practical insight and expertise on accounting topics that are complex, undergoing changes or challenging to apply. This series of topics includes seven titles to date. The latest one, Accounting for Income Taxes, was added to the collection in July 2018. It is a subscription-based product that can be accessed through the Thomson Reuters Checkpoint platform.

Accounting for income taxes is challenging in any given year. It is an area that requires a lot of judgment and a deep understanding of a complex standard, especially when a company’s activities span over multiple jurisdictions. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted in December 2017, adds a layer of complexity and presents companies with many challenges, both immediately and in the future. Checkpoint Catalyst: US GAAP – Accounting for Income Taxes is designed to help tax and accounting professionals navigate updated accounting rules and changes in tax laws. It highlights the main principles, scope, recognition, and measurement guidance, as well as presentation and disclosure rules related to income taxes. It addresses other difficult topics, such as intraperiod tax allocation, interim reporting, undistributed earnings of subsidiaries, and joint ventures, and income taxes in connection with a business combination. The topic also provides interpretations and developments related to the provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and includes tools that accounting professionals can use when working on income tax matters.

Checkpoint Catalyst: US GAAP—Accounting for Income Taxes cross-references to the Thomson Reuters Complete Analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a Thomson Reuters product used by tax experts, to help management and tax specialists have effective discussions about the TCJA and its accounting impact. Due to a very high level of judgment, accounting for income taxes presents significant challenges for companies and practitioners, including:

-Determining the “applicable tax rate,” a deceptively complicated calculation that includes lots of assumptions
-Interpreting a standard that is very much theoretical and hypothetical
-Assessing whether current and deferred tax assets are recoverable or require a valuation allowance
-Determining in what period tax expenses (or gains) must be recorded
-Navigating the fine line between a change in estimate and the correction of an error

Checkpoint Catalyst: US GAAP – Accounting for Income Taxes is organized to help an entity gain a baseline of the requirements (a refresher for seasoned professionals), and then leads the user into more complex territories and unchartered ones introduced by the tax reform. It is designed so that an accountant can have useful conversations with tax experts and specialists. It includes numerous practical illustrations and expert guidance. Detailed analysis and illustrations are embedded directly within the product, clarifying grey areas and reducing the risk that something important is missed. In the product, however, each chapter begins with a synopsis and a bulleted list of key points and takeaways. As a result, a user is able to determine whether to keep reading a chapter to get the detailed analysis or whether to skip a particular chapter.

In addition, this product offers a number of practice aids that companies and practitioners can use to document their thought process and conclusions. These practice aids take the form of interactive tools, diagrams, checklists and decision trees that help users get the full picture on how to apply the standards to a particular situation. These tools are embedded directly within the analysis to illustrate complex sets of rules or help break down complicated transactions within the context of the discussion.

Finally, featured developments are presented in context of the Topic to keep researchers up-to-date on important developments or to call them into focus as a quick refresher on recent changes. This product is updated regularly by in-house editors, guaranteeing that the analysis provided is always up-to-date.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and benefits of the nominated product or service:

-Makes it easy to navigate this topic and its complexities — including:
-Extensive guidance on how to measure and record current and deferred taxes, including how to estimate the effective tax rate
-Discussions of the accounting effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
-Focus on specific concepts that are particularly difficult to put into practice
-Detailed disclosure requirements, including disclosures about accounting policies elections stemming from the tax reform
-Is a great resource for finance professionals to come up with the key judgments regarding accounting for income taxes and how to adjust their estimates from period to period
-Is guaranteed to be always up to date
-Includes observations and illustration that break down complex concepts into simple ideas
-Offer tools and practice aids that financial professionals will find useful when thinking through and documenting specific issues and questions