Exactera Tax Provision gives Hub Group the speed, accuracy, and usability they need, transforming a once tedious process into a streamlined and reliable workflow.
Hub Group is a publicly traded, leading supply chain solutions provider headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, with offices throughout the United States. Our service offerings include a full range of freight transportation and logistics services, some of which are provided using assets we own and operate, and some of which are provided by third parties with whom we contract.
As the Vice President of Tax, Jamie Barenie leads a six-person team, each with a different specialty, while personally managing the income tax provision. “It’s the most challenging part of my job and the most interesting part,” he says. “You’re calculating amounts for financial statements, analyzing effective tax rates. Financial statement reporting can be more complicated than a tax return can be at times.”
Until recently, the company calculated the tax provision in Excel. For Barenie, the manual process posed concerns. “The company had become too big and too complicated. Our spreadsheet model was now overwhelming. When I built it 15 years ago, it was six tabs. Now there were 60 tabs in a spreadsheet prone to error. It was hard for auditors to follow,” Barenie explains. He worried that the complexity could compromise accuracy and make deadlines harder to meet.
A Smarter Solution
Barenie knew it was time for a change. His must-haves?
- Ease of use (after a failed attempt with overly complex software)
- Robust state calculations (Hub Group files in nearly every state as well as in a few foreign countries)
- Comprehensive, traceable reports for ETR calculations and deferred tax tracking
After seeing an Exactera demo, he was impressed.
“Exactera looked more user-friendly and modern than anything I’d seen before,” he says.
Overwhelmed to Optimized
Hub Group began with a tandem experience, running the software alongside the legacy spreadsheet model in Q4 2023. The transition went smoothly. “My only complaint was that the reports were slow at that time. But Exactera rolled out a new version, and now they run instantly—it’s made a world of difference.”
State reports have also improved since then. “Exactera has taken our feedback and made improvements,” he says.
Barenie spends 60% less time on the tax provision, and he’s just as pleased with the reports. “With Excel, I always knew it was working, but I always had to make sure it was working. I don’t have to do that now.”
