Technology

Funding Is All About Storytelling
Stories can trigger passion, inspiration, and loyalty—and compelling ones inspire emotional investment

One of our favorite clients, Gary, once told us a story as we began talking about a possible tax transformation project for the public company he had recently joined as its new vice president of tax. Earlier in Gary’s career, he was the compliance tax manager for a large privately… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Innovation for VAT
Tax technology is changing how VAT applies to new and more complex business models, how tax authorities administer these taxes, and how businesses comply

The saying “There’s a way to do it better . . . find it!” is attributed to inventor Thomas Edison, but it encapsulates perfectly the current global indirect tax management landscape. In the last decade, innovations in tax technology have significantly changed not only how value-added tax (VAT), also known… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Data Transformation—Where to Begin?
What once took tax professionals months now takes moments—but challenges remain

With the advent of digitization tools comes the potential to transform and index massive data sources without the current dependency on IT and coding. We are approaching as significant a cultural shift in the tax profession as Facebook and the iPhone were in our day-to-day lives. What comes is a… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Tax Leaders Face a Generational Reckoning
Success calls for new tax technology talent and tools

The Who’s 1965 anthem furiously announced the arrival of a new generation whose values differed markedly from those of its predecessors. If current tax function leaders tune in to the thirty- and forty-somethings in their ranks, they’ll hear about similarly dramatic changes regarding the technology tools the function will soon… Read more »

VIEW MORE


The Internet, ‘Fake News,’ and Tax Research
Yes, they really do affect your bottom line

Before the days of the internet, tax research was conducted by tax professionals with access to information not readily available to the general public and followed high editorial standards. Corporate tax executives might have challenged the conclusions of the research, but they did not have to think twice about the… Read more »

VIEW MORE


How Adobe Streamlined Tax to Scale Its Business
Dramatic shift in online purchasing has ripple effect

Some of the statistics about consumption in the United States are truly jarring. There are more than three shopping centers for every high school, according to industry data and the Department of Education. For each person, forty-eight square feet of retail capacity exists, CNBC reported earlier this year. The average… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Your Tax Data Is Ripe for Artificial Intelligence. Are You Prepared?
AI is still evolving, but machine learning is already here

Entrepreneur and Tesla cofounder Elon Musk recently sparked controversy when he labeled artificial intelligence (AI) the “biggest existential threat” to humanity. On the flip side, according to Sandhya Venkatachalam of Centerview Capital Technology, AI can be used to fundamentally rethink how we solve the world’s problems and has the potential… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Best Practices in Tax Compliance Outsourcing
Start the journey with a well-designed RFP

Tax compliance isn’t for the faint of heart these days. Proper execution can directly affect cash flow, the defensibility of tax return positions, risk management, and ultimately the public’s perception of your company as a responsible taxpayer. In the face of these concerns, as well as ever-changing tax laws and… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Bots, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning
Yes, these will impact your tax practice, but when and how much are still unclear

Tax professionals in all industries run into a common problem: the constant confrontation with rapidly changing technology that is camouflaged by overly complicated terminology, with few people explaining things in language that laypeople can understand. Such is the problem when you start a conversation on, say, robotic process automation or… Read more »

VIEW MORE


Playbook for a Successful Tax Technology Solution
Key to success: Engage tax technology and IT resources early and ensure continued involvement

The business and tax environments are changing rapidly, significantly affecting how corporate tax functions leverage technology, engage with their information technology (IT) departments, and execute technology projects. To adapt to challenging times, tax needs to reevaluate how it exploits data and technology and reconsider the skill sets needed to transform… Read more »

VIEW MORE