1. AccountingThe Language of BusinessSpoken Frequently Here at Meijer
Ashley Gist
Tax Department Intern

2. Ashley K. Gist
Grand Valley State University
Bachelors of Business Administration
Major- Accounting
Minor- Hospitality and Tourism Management- Event Planning
Masters of Science in Accounting
Beta Alpha Psi
Regents College- London, England
3. Ashley K. Gist
GOALS!
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam
Law school- Tax Attorney
Fraud, Forensic Accounting, & Tax Evasion
4. Objective!
To provide the Tax Department with a compliance resource capable of accurately and efficiently preparing various types of returns at all jurisdiction levels
5. Learning Opportunities
Compliance
GL Uploads
Form 990
Form 5500
Form 1120
Process Review
Payroll Tax Project
Analysis
Section 174
Section 1031
Projects!
6. Compliance: Preparing Tax Returns
7. Process Review: Automating Payroll Tax Project
Business Purpose: to identify opportunities to improve the payroll tax reporting and payment process, which will help to reduce the effort for Meijer, allowing time for more value added work
8. Process Review: Automating Payroll Tax Project
Process mapping
Solution development with IT
Research & communication with localities
Electronic W-2 submission
Accepting different electronic payments options
E-Check
ACH Debit
Cash Pro ACH Credit
9. Flow Charts!
10. 11. Process Review: Automating Payroll Tax Project
Result:
Identified opportunities to automate the payroll tax process using tools already in place for other payments
Eliminate manual process
Electronic payments
Get payments & data to localities at lower cost to Meijer
Win-win situation
Create mutually beneficial partnership with localities
12. Analysis Projects: Section 1031
Like-Kind Exchanges
Property transactions
Business Purpose: defer tax obligation on gain
13. Analysis Projects: Section 174 Project
Software Development Expenditures Project
Business Purpose: an annual analysis of expenditures for software development in order to identify those costs that are qualified software development costs under IRC Sec. 174.
To the extent that these qualified costs are capitalized for book purposes, they are quantified and deducted for tax purposes.
This reduces Meijers taxable income, which in return means lower taxes paid by Meijer.
14. Analysis Projects: My Experience
Never make assumptions
Challenge
Always room for improvement
What was done before?
Apply consistency in tax
Be able to reexamine & accept errors
Clear understanding for everyone on team
15. My Experience

Know your Tools & Resources

Team members
Tax department portal
Many technology platforms to gain efficiencies
General Ledger System
Real asset management in Series 4000 - Depreciation
Microsoft Office 2007
Access
Excel
Word
Outlook
Visio
CorpTax
CCH Intelliconnect (research)
CS Ultra Tax
Document Direct
BI Query
16. My Experience
Detail attentive & very organized
17. What I Learned!
Good professional communication is essential
Mutually beneficial relationship with localities
Obtaining information efficiently internally
Expect constant change
Tax law & forms always changing
New acts & laws and how they affect business
Manage multiple projects at same time
Time management
Minimize down-time
Enforcement of ethics & integrity
18. My Experience!
Commonapproachregardless of project!
Essentially the learning experience applicable in every aspect of work I did
19. Questions?