Energy & Utilities

Key Takeaways

• Accountably gives your firm a white‑label team for energy and utilities accounting and taxation, aligned with IRS, GAAP, GASB, and SOC 2 controls.
• We reduce reconciliation time by 40 to 70 percent with centralized data, governed ETL, and meter‑to‑bill validation, based on typical client outcomes.
• You get rate‑making and regulatory accounting support, including cost of service studies, tariff and rider workflows, test‑year strategy, and regulatory asset treatment under GASB.
• Rolling 12 to 24 month forecasts bring fuel, transmission, IRA credits, and capital plans into one model, so you can quantify revenue requirements and expected rate effects.
• Audit readiness is built in, covering workpapers, recoverability support, capitalization testing, and clear disclosures for GASB and related frameworks.

We act as your behind‑the‑scenes team, you keep the client relationship, and your partners keep their calendar under control.

Who We Help and How We Work

You serve complex clients, from electric and gas utilities to water and wastewater systems and renewable portfolios. We integrate with your workflows as a secure, white‑label unit. Your clients see your firm, not ours. Our teams handle standardized production, documentation, and analytics, and your managers handle review and delivery.

• White‑label back office for CPA firms, EAs, and accounting practices
• Dedicated pods trained on utility accounting and rate‑making workflows
• SOC 2 certified processes, role‑based access, and documented controls
• IRS, GAAP, and cash basis support, plus GASB for public entities
• Clear SLAs, versioned workpapers, and audit trails

Service Highlights At A Glance

• Regulatory accounting and rate‑making support: revenue requirement builds, cost of service analysis, class allocation, tariff and rider support, test‑year strategy, regulatory asset handling under GASB.
• Financial modeling and forecasting: integrated 12 to 24 month forecasts that connect fuel, transmission, and capital plans to projected rates and liquidity.
• Tax and compliance: federal, state, and multi‑state returns for 1040, 1065, 1120, 1120‑S, 1041, and 990 where applicable, sales and use and property tax support, payroll tax, and IRA credit documentation.
• Capital project accounting: construction in progress, capitalization testing, change‑order tracking, depreciation schedules, and recoverability support.
• Data and BI: meter‑to‑bill reconciliation, SCADA and billing data curation, SAIDI and SAIFI analytics, theft and loss indicators, and governed datasets your auditors will accept.
• Cybersecurity and controls: least‑privilege access, multi‑factor authentication, logging, and monitoring, with readiness support for utility control frameworks where applicable.

Regulatory Accounting and Rate‑Making Support

When you prepare filings or advise on rate strategy, real control over inputs is everything. We help your team build a defensible revenue requirement and a transparent cost of service analysis that regulators can follow.

• Revenue requirement builds with operating expenses, depreciation, taxes, and allowed return on rate base
• Cost of service analysis that functionalizes, classifies, and allocates costs across classes with clearly documented allocators
• Tariff and rider support, decoupling considerations, and tracker design where allowed
• Regulatory asset identification, documentation, and amortization under GASB for public entities
• Evidence packs for prudence and recoverability, including test‑year choices and filing cadence

You decide the advocacy strategy. We produce consistent, well‑sourced schedules and workpapers that make the case clear and audit ready.

Financial Planning and Forecasting For Utilities Clients

Energy and utilities margins can shift quickly with fuel spreads, transmission costs, and project timing. Our modeling integrates these inputs into rolling 12 to 24 month forecasts, so your firm can quantify outcomes and advise with confidence.

Proactive Cost Forecasting

• Integrated forecasts that pull from billing, metering, SCADA, ERP, and capital plans
• Scenario analysis that shows potential 3 to 8 percent rate impacts under stress, such as higher fuel price or delayed projects
• Cash flow visibility that highlights coverage gaps early, improving timing on filings, issuances, or spend controls
• Direct links to workpapers and auditable data lineage for partner and auditor review

Policy And Credit Timing

• Document eligibility and timing for clean energy credits under current law
• Coordinate project finance stacks and book‑tax timing to avoid unwelcome surprises
• Provide evidence folders for labor requirements where relevant, so credit assumptions stand up during review

When forecasts, tax, and regulatory accounting live in one place, your advice stops being reactive and becomes a plan the client can execute.

Data And Business Intelligence Your Partners Can Trust

Your partners want one answer to every question, not four spreadsheets with different numbers. We unify operational and financial data into governed datasets and dashboards that tie back to the ledger and the meter.

Centralized Data Platform

• Single source of truth for metering, SCADA, billing, and financials
• Role‑based controls, auditable records, and SOC 2 aligned workflows
• Typical results include up to a 50 percent drop in manual errors and a 40 to 70 percent reduction in reconciliation time, based on client implementations
• Prebuilt metrics for SAIDI, SAIFI, unit cost per MWh or per customer, and project percent complete

With one platform, your firm can answer regulator questions, quantify impacts for partners, and prepare workpapers faster.

Automated Data Curation

• Rule‑based ETL that validates time series and transactional data before it reaches finance
• Flags for meter drift, billing exceptions, and missing work‑order links
• Data lineage and access logs that support audit readiness and GASB reporting
• Curated datasets for load forecasting, loss detection, and project ROI analysis

This reduces spreadsheet risk and cuts cycle time, so your seniors spend time reviewing insights, not cleaning files.

Actionable Analytics Dashboards

• Visuals for outage counts, asset health, system load, and 15‑minute peaks for operations
• Finance views for capacity factors, O&M per MWh, recoverable expenses, rate‑making schedules, capital spend versus budget, and change‑order drill downs
• Energy theft and loss indicators to protect margin
• Predictive models that improve forecast accuracy by 10 to 25 percent in typical deployments

Dashboards help your team answer tough questions in minutes, not days, which lifts client confidence and partner leverage in hearings.

Capital Improvement Projects Lifecycle Support

Capital programs are where utility financial risk shows up if controls lag. We set up a lifecycle approach that keeps documentation tight from planning to close‑out.

• Planning: capitalization policy mapping, funding strategy, and documentation templates
• Execution: change‑order controls, recoverability testing, and construction in progress tracking
• Close‑out: cost reconciliation, asset set up, depreciation scheduling, and lessons learned

We align all artifacts to accounting treatment under GAAP or GASB as applicable, so recoverable costs are supported and workpapers are ready for audit.

Transparent Reporting And Regulatory Compliance

Your clients expect clean, consistent reporting that stands up in audits and rate cases. We prepare disclosures, schedules, and narratives that align with the applicable framework.

• GASB reporting for public utilities, including regulatory assets and liabilities and pension or OPEB under relevant standards
• Clear support for recoverability and amortization policies
• Separate presentation for capitalized renewable project costs, credits claimed under current law, and deferred inflows or outflows from proceedings
• Tight support for property tax, sales and use, payroll tax, and multi‑state positions

Where material, we can include cybersecurity control summaries, data governance notes, and BI reconciliation procedures to show how financial and operational data stay consistent.

Rate‑Making, Tariffs, And Cost Of Service Analysis

Every jurisdiction has its own playbook, but the fundamentals do not change. We help your team build a defensible story from ledger to class rates.

COSA Methods We Support

• Functionalize, classify, and allocate generation, transmission, distribution, and customer costs
• Select and document allocators, such as coincident peak for transmission, kWh for energy‑related costs, and customer counts for customer‑related costs
• Prepare schedules that reconcile to the GL and prior filings
• Link assumptions to evidence and precedent where appropriate

Clarity wins. When every allocator, schedule, and source is documented, regulators focus on the merits, not the mechanics.

Cybersecurity, Controls, And Risk Management

As grids modernize, cyber risk expands across IT and OT. Your firm cannot secure client networks, but you can help clients show that financial reporting and billing processes are protected by sound controls. We build this into daily work, not as a one‑time binder.

• Segment IT and OT networks where applicable, apply least privilege, and enforce multi‑factor authentication for sensitive systems
• Monitor key systems with logging and alerting, including SCADA and billing interfaces monitored through SIEM where available
• Rehearse incident response with tabletop exercises and documented playbooks
• Keep tight change control for billing configuration, meter data transformations, and rate‑making models
• Maintain meter‑to‑bill reconciliations and anomaly flags to catch revenue leakage

These steps reduce the chance that cyber events spill into revenue loss or delayed filings, and they shorten audit conversations about control effectiveness.

Tax Strategy, State And Local Recovery, And Energy Credits

Tax planning is where your firm can unlock real cash while keeping rate pressure in check. We supply the workpapers and evidence, you guide the strategy and client conversations.

Optimizing Clean Energy Credits

• Model credit scenarios for each asset and project stage
• Document labor and component evidence where required
• Map book‑tax timing, depreciation, and credit interactions to avoid unpleasant surprises
• Coordinate with legal and project finance to align structures with current rules

When assumptions are captured in one model with clear evidence, partners can advise on timing and structure with confidence.

State And Local Tax Recovery

• Forensic reviews of sales, use, and property taxes to identify refunds and capitalizable adjustments
• Nexus and sourcing studies to clarify positions on generation inputs and intercompany charges
• Amended returns and voluntary disclosure workflows where exposure exists
• Integration with accounting treatment, regulatory asset considerations, and statute timelines

Typical reviews surface 3 to 8 percent of annual state and local tax spend in recoveries or adjustments, based on client work, subject to facts and state rules.

Strategic Tax Forecasting

• Bring credits, refunds, and rate‑making into one rolling forecast
• Use probability‑weighted scenarios for realization, refund timing, and effective tax rate
• Tie results to cash planning and filing calendars, so management knows what to expect and when

Tax, rate, and capital plans work best when they share the same calendar and the same data. That is the discipline we bring to your firm.

Audit Services For Operational And Financial Excellence

Audits are not just compliance, they are a pressure test for the controls that drive financial results. We help you structure audit programs that give clients a clear path to stronger operations.

• Operational audits for generation, sourcing, procurement, and transmission rate workflows
• Compliance audits that confirm adherence to GASB or GAAP as applicable, recoverability support, and consistent regulatory asset treatment
• Control audits that prove data curation, dashboards, and reporting are complete, accurate, and timely
• Financial statement and performance audits across construction in progress planning, midpoint reviews, and close‑out

Your partners get evidence they can stand behind, and your clients get a roadmap for improvements that tie directly to rate and cash outcomes.

Why Accountably For Energy And Utilities

• Built for firms: white‑label staffing that keeps your brand front and center
• Trained utility pods: teams that understand SAIDI, SAIFI, COSA, and rate case calendars
• Compliance by design: IRS, GAAP, cash basis, GASB for public entities, SOC 2 certified processes
• Documented outcomes: reconciliation time cuts, faster close, and cleaner filings are typical when data and controls are centralized
• Scale on demand: add capacity for peak seasons without adding fixed headcount

Comparison, In‑House Only vs Accountably White‑Label

You keep the client relationship and the review, we handle the heavy lift behind the scenes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this industry service for?

This page is built for CPA firms, EAs, and accounting practices that serve utilities, energy developers, and water or wastewater entities. If your partners need more capacity for accounting, tax, and regulatory support, our white‑label team plugs in under your brand.

What accounting and tax work can you take off our plate?

We handle federal, state, and multi‑state returns, including 1040, 1065, 1120, 1120‑S, 1041, and 990 where relevant. We support property and payroll tax, reconciliations, construction in progress and capitalization testing, depreciation schedules, and audit‑ready workpapers. For public entities we prepare GASB aligned reporting and regulatory asset documentation.

Can you help with rate‑making and cost of service studies?

Yes. We support revenue requirement builds, COSA schedules, allocator support, tariff and rider workflows, and test‑year strategy. Your firm leads the advocacy and delivery, we provide the standardized models, schedules, and evidence packs.

How do you improve reconciliation speed by 40 to 70 percent?

Centralizing metering, billing, SCADA, and GL data, then applying rule‑based ETL, eliminates manual rework. With governed datasets and dashboards, preparers spend less time fixing data and more time producing schedules. Reported ranges are typical of client implementations, results vary by scope and data quality.

Do you follow compliance frameworks?

Yes. We operate with IRS rules, GAAP standards, and cash basis where appropriate, and our processes are SOC 2 certified. For public utilities we align with GASB guidance. We also prepare evidence that supports common utility control frameworks, such as role‑based access and logging for sensitive systems.

Will you interact with our clients?

You decide. We can stay fully white‑label and work only with your team, or we can join client calls as part of your firm. Either way, your partners maintain control of the relationship and the final review.

How do you handle sensitive data?

Access is role‑based, activity is logged, and data moves through secure channels. We maintain documented procedures and quality reviews, so your managers can sign off with confidence.

What if we only need help during filings or audit season?

That is common. We scale up for peak periods, then scale down when your calendar lightens. You pay for the capacity you need.

How We Get You Started

• Scope the work. We align on services, timelines, and SLAs.
• Stand up secure access. We connect to your systems with role‑based permissions.
• Standardize templates. We set up models, checklists, and review steps your partners prefer.
• Produce and review. Our team prepares, your team reviews and delivers.
• Improve and repeat. We track time, errors, and bottlenecks, then tighten the process.

Call To Action

Ready to give your partners more time for high‑value advisory while we handle the heavy lift behind the scenes? Book a short discovery call. We will review your current workload, identify quick wins in reconciliation and reporting, and outline a right‑sized plan to support your utilities and energy clients