Computer-based optimization system for financial performance management
First Claim
1. A method for assigning a financial factor to one of a plurality of business entities, the method comprising identifying a factor to be assigned;
- indicating a metric to be optimized;
defining one or more rules to be used in a matching process;
using a computer system to perform a step of comparing degrees of optimization of the metric based on assignment of the factor to different ones of the plurality of business entities, wherein the one or more rules are used to derive the degrees of optimization; and
using the result of the comparing step to assign the financial factor to the one of a plurality of business entities.
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Abstract
A system for analyzing and optimizing allocation of factors among different business entities. The analysis, or optimization, can be targeted to a specific business financials measurement, or metric. Many different types of factors can be considered regardless of their initial definition, description or form. For example, along with revenues, profit, inventory size, etc., human characteristics such as incentive and performance can be measured and optimized. A preferred embodiment of the invention concerns analyzing factor allocation to reduce overall taxes for a company with subsidiaries in regions with different tax laws. The system includes consideration of local, state, federal and international taxes, transfer pricing, tax credit limitations, inter-state allocations in unitary and non unitary environments, carry-overs, and others. The system preferably uses a versatile matching engine, described herein, to automate the analysis and optimization. The matching engine is capable of discrete and continuous attribute value weighting, and of performing substitution of attributes, or other variables.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method for assigning a financial factor to one of a plurality of business entities, the method comprising
identifying a factor to be assigned; -
indicating a metric to be optimized;
defining one or more rules to be used in a matching process;
using a computer system to perform a step of comparing degrees of optimization of the metric based on assignment of the factor to different ones of the plurality of business entities, wherein the one or more rules are used to derive the degrees of optimization; and
using the result of the comparing step to assign the financial factor to the one of a plurality of business entities. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for analyzing a business operation, the method comprising
using a computer system to provide projected tax liability when costs and revenue are allocated among a plurality of business entities, wherein the computer system executes a matching engine using weighting of attribute values.
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19. A method for analyzing a business operation, the method comprising
allocating one of cost or revenue among a plurality of business entities; -
using a computer system to provide projected tax liability based on the allocations made in the step of allocating; and
using the computer system to provide incentive determination based on the allocations made in the step of allocating. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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22. A method for analyzing a business operation, the method comprising
allocating one of cost or revenue among a plurality of business entities; -
using a computer system to provide projected tax liability based on the allocations made in the step of allocating;
using the computer system to provide an risk assessment projection based on the allocations made in the step of allocating.
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23. A method for optimizing taxes for a multi-jurisdiction entity, the method comprising:
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defining a plurality of case, including at least one base case;
defining said entity in terms of at least one location, the number of subsidiary entities and the relationship between each such subsidiary entities;
using a computer system to perform an optimization process based on at least one model, said model having a plurality of rules for deriving tax implications of business operation, and the defined entity;
using the computer system to allocate financial metrics. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for providing strategic business units, finance, treasury, and tax departments in a global company visibility on its forecasted cash flow, including forecasted revenues, forecasted expense and forecasted capital decisions, where said business units are located in a plurality of jurisdictions such that said cash flow is allocated to selected ones of said strategic business units in view of the tax laws for each jurisdiction and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), said system comprising:
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Means for defining a plurality of scenario-based approaches that allows multi-year tax planning and analysis across said business units and for sharing the results between users; and
Means for disseminating said scenario-based approaches to each of said business units. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification