FTA/MTC Audit and Computer Technology Workshop
October 3 - 5, 2005
Sheraton St. Louis City Center

MEETING AGENDA

All program changes/updates will be posted to www.taxadmin.org and www.mtc.gov.

Sunday, October 2

3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Registration

5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Opening Reception with light hors d’oeuvres

Monday, October 3

8:00 – 8:10 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Comments
Harold Jennings, Multistate Tax Commission
Ed Phillips, Ohio Dept. of Taxation

8:10 – 9:10 a.m.
Data Downloads of Records
(Methods of transfer, acceptable formats, and problems encountered)
Thad Cable, North Carolina Dept. of Revenue

9:10 – 10:10 a.m.
Data Screening in Access and Excel
(Techniques to correct mainframe conversion errors, convert date fields, remove window dressing, identify duplicates, etc.)
Ward Kroencke and Janet Thurman, Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue

10:10 – 10:30 a.m.
BREAK

10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Reconciling Taxpayer's Electronic Data
(Verifying the completeness and accuracy of data downloads with taxpayer’s books and records)
Dan Olivero, Steve Entrekin and Jean Presson, Illinois Dept. of Revenue

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
LUNCH (on your own)

1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Demonstration of Sesam Software
Bull Services

2:15 – 2:50 p.m.
Stratification Techniques
(Comparing the Cumulative Square Root of the Frequency method with other alternatives, determining how many strata ranges are sufficient, and evaluating the stratification programs that are included in various software products)
Rosie McClurken, Tennessee Dept. of Revenue
Mike Chertude, Washington Dept. of Revenue

2:50 – 3:10 p.m.
BREAK

3:10 – 4:00 p.m.
Automating the Sampling Design Process
(Simplifying the routine to calculate sample sizes, stratifying the sampling frame, and the random selection of transactions using ACL, Access, Excel, and other software programs)
Mike Chertude, Washington Dept. of Revenue

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Computer Assisted Audits (CAA) on Small Taxpayers
(Methods of simplifying the CAA process when auditing smaller populations with less than 50,000 total transactions for the entire audit period)
Mike Chertude, Washington Dept. of Revenue
Steve Entrekin, Illinois Dept. of Revenue


Tuesday, October 4


8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Pursuing Electronic Records for Multiple Tax Types
(Examples of electronic records received from taxpayers that expedited the audit process for tax types other than Sales and Use Tax—such as Corporate Franchise, Employer Withholding, and Personal Property Tax)
Ed Phillips, Ohio Dept. of Taxation

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Exporting "as filed" Data from Tax Software Programs
(Reducing inputting of data and eliminating transposition errors by importing information and uploading this data on auditor’s worksheets from tax return data that was prepared from proprietary software programs)
Renee Grasty and James Petit, Washington Dept. of Revenue

10:00 – 10:20 a.m.
BREAK

10:20 – 11:00 a.m.
Audit Inventory and Case Management Systems
(Demonstration of software products that address these issues as well as assist in the audit selection process)
Greg Campbell and Duane Seditz, Ohio Dept. of Taxation

11:00 – Noon
Web or CD Based Training for Staff Development
(Training alternatives and advances in software applications to assist with web and CD based development)
Sherry Blizzard, South Carolina Dept. of Revenue
Lisa Kaspar, Kansas Dept. of Revenue (invited)

Noon – 1:30 p.m.
LUNCH (on your own)

1:30 – 2:15 p.m.
Data Warehousing for Income Tax
(Use of data for filing compliance)
State Representatives (invited)

2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Data Mining for Audit Selection
(Discussion of how states have used this technique to improve the audit selection process)
Randy Kutz and Joe Thury, South Dakota Dept. of Revenue

3:15 – 3:30 p.m.
BREAK

3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Developing & Maintaining a CAA Group in a Small State
(How to initiate and maintain a computer assisted audit group and implement a statistical sampling program within a small state with limited staff and resources)
Cindy Thompson, Iowa Dept. of Revenue
Darrell Engen, North Dakota Dept. of Revenue (invited)

4:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Reference Databases for Researching Laws & Policies
(Demonstration of the dtSearch computer program that the State of Illinois maintains to enable their audit staff to quickly access laws, administrative rules, court cases, directives, information releases, policies and procedures)
Bob Reep, Illinois Dept. of Revenue

Wednesday, October 5

8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
Remote Access
(Wireless and Broadband) VPN, etc. (Presentation of a system that has been implemented to connect field auditors to a Department of Revenue’s LAN system via high-speed remote access)
Ward Kroencke and Janet Thurman, Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue
Laura Cameron, Illinois Dept. of Revenue

9:15 – 10:15 a.m.
Using Internet Research to Assist in the Audit Process
(Informative web sites and useful techniques to assist auditors in obtaining or verifying information that can prove beneficial within their audits)
Susan Rebe, Multistate Tax Commission

10:15 – 10:35 a.m.
BREAK

10:35 – 11:35 a.m.
Auditing Taxpayer Records Stored in SAP Software
(Suggestions on how to utilize this software program to search and extract specific data required to conduct an electronic tax audit)
Tom Baker, BP Products North America

11:35 a.m. – Noon
Complete Evaluations and discuss the direction and frequency of future workshops

Noon
ADJOURN