KPMG Tax Survey

Tax leaders using technology to drive change in the boardroom - Seite 2

While these kinds of operational changes are in line with the types of innovation CEOs are seeking, there may still be a disparity between what tax leaders are seeing and their CEOs' awareness of the complexities, risks and opportunities relating to today's tax environment and the tax function itself. 

Tax leaders of the future

The tax benchmarking survey also shows some emerging shifts in how tax leaders in Europe see themselves and their ability to add value within their organizations. In addition to helping their leadership teams and boards navigate the demands of today's tax environment, the survey suggests tax leaders recognize the need to develop new skillsets within their departments in order to help deliver more value in ways that reflect their evolving roles as business leaders and the changing needs of their organizations. Alongside this call to expand the capabilities within their functions, tax departments in the region continue to operate in a challenging environment, rife with uncertainty. Adding to the challenges facing tax leaders is the rapid growth in the development of digital strategies employed by tax authorities.

"European tax authorities are leading the way in areas such as real-time reporting and e-invoicing," said Chris Scott, Head of Tax for the KPMG EMA Region. "This is going to require heads of tax—and their organizations more generally—to reconsider the importance of technology to tax, to tackle data challenges and to adapt and develop their tax practices and processes for today's realities. They also have to rethink what good performance means in this new world. If you're traditionally judged by the timeliness of your tax return, this means little in relation to where the true risk might lie when data is sent in real time. Instead, the measures will become more about factors such as data integrity, coherence and completeness."

This observation seems to align with what CEOs indicated as the top performance measure for tax departments, namely:

• Tax function is aligned to support the corporate strategy (14 percent)
• Tax risks are managed appropriately in line with organizational values and objectives (13 percent)
• Results of tax jurisdiction audits are as expected (13 percent)
• Tax function effectively manages its department's resources (13 percent)
• Tax function generates cash savings for organization (13 percent)
• Tax compliance deadlines are met on schedule (12  percent)
• Business units are satisfied with tax services provided (12 percent)
• Accuracy of returns and avoidance of penalties (10 percent)

These findings suggest that CEOs are expecting strategic, broadly focused tax leadership, going beyond the traditional realm of compliance activities. In contrast, when tax leaders were asked to rank the same criteria above in terms of how they expect leadership would prioritize the tax department's performance measures, the clear frontrunners were around the effective management of tax risks (54 percent ranked this as highly important), and the accuracy of returns and avoidance of penalties (43 percent ranked this as highly important).