Blueprint for change
Respondents report a surprisingly high degree of satisfaction with levels of investment in tax department processes and technology. The majority of them also report that their tax controls, policies and procedures are standardized or very standardized. Nevertheless, a companysizeable minority of respondents are less progressed, and fewer than 40 percent say they are “integrally involved” with wider finance function transformation initiatives.
The case studies in this section show that taking a proactive approach to reviewing and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of tax processes can produce considerable benefits. Even more gains can stem from engaging with the wider finance function to ensure the accounting processes that tax departments rely on succeed in supporting their needs. Our experience is that tax departments can do much more to improve efficiencies across their core activities. We recommend that tax department strategies should address opportunities to:
• refine and embed efficient processes that realize the strategy in ways that are monitored and sustainainable over the long term;
• establish systems and procedures to produce, exchange and distribute timely, accurate and relevant information to the right people at the right time and in the right format; and
• employ enabling technologies to automate labor-intensive and manual processes that consume resources and increase risk.