Future of Tax Insights series episode 1: Complexity and burden

Transcript

Sabine Barlage
Welcome to your Future of Tax Function Insight series. I'm Sabine Barlage. And today I'm speaking with Jonathan Howe. Our Connected Tax Compliance market leader in the UK and EMEA. Jonathan, we recently commissioned a survey asking a number of organizations about the future of tax functions. Was there one theme from the survey that stood out to you?

Jonathan Howe
There was. It was the increasing complexity of compliance and the burden of reporting . Amongst some of the largest organizations surveyed, 85% of tax professionals expect a significant increase in reporting requirements over the next 2 to 3 years. And half of those organizations estimate that the number of in-house professionals will remain the same. And in addition, just 48% of them feel they are effective at managing their regulatory requirements.

So that tells us if organizations are going to be able to deal with this increased burden, something needs to change.

Sabine Barlage
So what are we seeing organizations do to respond?

Jonathan Howe
When facing an increase in volume and complexity of compliance, organizations must utilize people, technology and process in new ways so they can anticipate change, move quicker and deliver with quality. But a one size fits all compliance model will not be successful. Delivery models must be connected and flexible with high agility levels to deal with constant regulatory change. At PwC We have found that connecting people and data while tech enabling the various compliance processes across taxes and territories, can bring down cost and free up teams while speed, flexibility and effectively managing regulatory requirements improve.

Sabine Barlage
Okay, so connecting compliance is key. How does PwC help organizations to achieve this?

Jonathan Howe
Leveraging the strength of an outsourced or managed service provider, like PwC can give you immediate access to technologies, resources and skills that deliver quick and lasting results. Working together with your business, meeting you where you are. A good outsource provider should provide four key ingredients. The first is insights. They stay ahead of regulatory changes, evaluate an impact and filing requirements before they happen.

Next is resources. We have a vast network of multi-disciplined creative problem solvers that meet clients needs at all points of the compliance cycle. These can be scaled up and down as organizations need more or less resources. Third is what really differentiates us at PwC, connectivity. Our Connected Tax Compliance connects people, data and technology across taxes and territories to streamline compliance and maximize efficiency.

Making the compliance burden easier to manage. And the fourth is technology delivering industry leading tech. So our clients experience high level automations faster at a fraction of the cost. Clients don't have to make that investment in infrastructure, because we already have.

Sabine Barlage
Thanks Jonathan. We've covered quite a bit of ground here. So what would your one key message be to leave people with on handling the increased complexity of compliance and reporting?

Jonathan Howe
Given many in-house finance and tax teams do not have the existing capacity to respond. Let's take this opportunity to redefine the role of tax within organizations. With PwC you can enjoy a more flexible, connected model that will provide in-house tax teams the time they so desperately need to add value to your organization and stay one step ahead of change.

Sabine Barlage
Thanks, Jonathan. For more information on our human led tech powered connected tax compliance approach, visit our website. Thank you for being here. We hope you'll join us for the next discussion, which will shine a light on tax functions of the future.