Technology is changing the way people work in almost all roles in manufacturing companies; tax professionals included. To remain successful, companies and individuals must learn about and embrace innovations to enable the success of the organization. The future tax professional needs to understand tax law and accounting, but also how to navigate robotics, digital labor, and analytics tools—and those are simply what is available today. What’s on the horizon for the future tax leader?
Manufacturers Alliance partnered with PwC on a survey to study how tax functions are positioned in terms of emerging technologies, tax reform automation, tax technology strategies, and tax provision and compliance technologies. This is the third iteration of this survey (previous in 2013 and 2016) and is particularly interesting following the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) (P.L. 115-97).
In addition to the change in tax law, manufacturing companies, and their tax functions, continue to feel the effects of Industry 4.0, and all the changes digitalization is bringing to the sector. The report found three majors trends for manufacturers.
1. Companies are still adapting to tax reform.
To meet the requirements, tax functions need to automate and manage processes to reduce manual time spent on data processing. Tax departments also need data analytics solutions to make the data actionable, assess the strategic impact of, and plan for, legislative and regulatory change.
2. New technologies are being adopted at a rapid pace in the finance and tax functions.
While often the last kids on the block to get the new tools, finance and tax are finally getting the technologies they need to enhance their strategic value to the organization. Advanced technologies allow tax departments to comply with TCJA requirements and upskill their teams.
For example, automated functions have seen a steady increase in adoption.
