HomeThe Provision Software I Wish I’d Had: Why We Built Provision NXT
By David Avellan, VP, Strategic Consulting, PowerPlan
The Challenge We Know All Too Well
For 25 years, PowerPlan has been the tax provision vendor of choice for more than 50 investor-owned utilities. We've delivered the industry-standard capabilities for ASC 740 and ASC 980 calculations, automated complex regulatory reporting requirements, and helped countless tax teams survive audit season with their sanity intact.
But tax departments today face challenges that go beyond what even the best legacy systems were designed to solve.
When we recently polled utility tax professionals:
- 61% cited manual reconciliations as their biggest challenge.
- Another 28% pointed to keeping up with regulatory changes.
- 60% said automation of repetitive tasks would be most transformative to their tax provision close.
These operational frustrations are the barriers that keep talented tax professionals tied to their desks when they should be focused on strategic analysis, planning, and—just as important—maintaining a healthy life-work balance.
What I Learned in the Tax Director’s Chair
When I was a Tax Director at Tampa Electric, I spent countless hours managing the tax provision close process. Too many hours went to work that doesn’t require professional judgement: Chasing down data discrepancies, manually reconciling systems that should talk to each other, reformatting reports for different stakeholders, and explaining to frustrated colleagues why the provision calculation was taking so long.
I remember thinking, “if the data could flow seamlessly without manual intervention, if the software weren’t so clunky, we could cut our close time in half and actually have confidence in our numbers before the deadline hits.”
That’s the software I wish I’d had. And that’s exactly what Provision NXT delivers.
Three Things That Actually Move the Needle
Provision NXT is the SaaS evolution of PowerPlan Provision—delivering the trusted, industry-validated calculations tax departments have relied on for more than 20 years, but reimagined for the speed and flexibility modern tax teams require today.
After years in a utility tax department and now working with dozens of our customers’ tax departments, I can tell you three key ways Provision NXT will truly make a difference.
1. Lower Risk: Regulatory changes don't wait for your software upgrade cycle. When tax laws are changed or FASB issues new guidance, you need to adapt quickly—not schedule a major implementation project. Provision NXT's quarterly release model means compliance updates happen automatically. The platform prevents downstream issues through built-in validations and integrated workflows. And when audit season arrives, everything is designed for transparency, so you're not scrambling to document your calculations.
2. Empower Your Tax Team: Here's something I learned the hard way: You can't make strategic decisions without good data, and you can't get good data out of a system that wasn't designed to give it to you. Provision NXT, combined with PowerPlan Data Hub, gives tax teams unprecedented access to tax provision data for analysis. Want to model different scenarios? Need to explain a variance to the CFO? Building a presentation for the audit committee? You can actually get the information you need without writing custom queries or building elaborate spreadsheets.
3. Unlock Productivity: "Close faster" sounds like consultant-speak, but it's genuinely transformative when you experience it. One customer testing Provision NXT's new interface rated it "10 out of 10" for intuitiveness. Another said the streamlined workflows were "definitely a 5 out of 5 compared to what we have now." When your team can onboard new staff faster, navigate the system intuitively, and extract information without needing a PhD in the software, that's when productivity happens.
The Integration That Actually Matters
Provision NXT lives on the same PowerPlan NXT platform as Tax Fixed Assets (TFA) – the industry leading solution for tax depreciation and property-related deferred taxes. When tax depreciation and deferred taxes are finalized in TFA, that data flows seamlessly into your provision calculation. No export. No import. No customized integration for your IT department to maintain. Just simple, transparent mapping and easy to understand results.
This fundamentally changes your risk profile. You're not wondering if the data made it across correctly. You know it did, and you have the data to prove it.
Built by People Who Actually Do This Work
Provision NXT was built by income tax leaders averaging 15+ years in utility tax experience. Our product and development teams worked directly with 14 customer organizations, logging over 200 hours of collaboration sessions.
This solution was developed hand-in-hand with its end users, addressing the actual pain points tax teams encounter—not just theoretical problems. It was shaped by the people who will actually use it, solving real problems from real tax departments.
Because we've all been there—fighting with software that clearly wasn't designed by someone who understands the tax provision close process. Provision NXT is different because it was built by people who get it.
The Software I Wish I'd Had
Looking back at those late nights at Tampa Electric, I can see exactly where Provision NXT would have changed everything.
The manual reconciliations that ate up hours every close? Eliminated through data transparency.
The scramble when TCJA dropped? No longer a software problem due to new releases without a long upgrade cycle.
The constant struggle to extract meaningful data for analysis? Solved with Data Hub.
Tax provision will always be complex—that's the nature of the work. But complexity shouldn't mean chaos. It shouldn't mean manual workarounds, stretched teams, and weekends spent reconciling data that should already tie out.
Provision NXT is the tool I wish I'd had. And now, it's available to tax teams who want to turn their provision function into a strategic advantage rather than a quarterly burden.
Because after years in this field, I can tell you with certainty: There is a better way.
Want to see how Provision NXT could transform your tax provision close? Request a personalized demonstration today.
