Pure's experts assist companies to bring tax in-house

One of the key trends witnessed in the tax market through 2009 has been the increased desire from organisations to look to bring a tax resource in-house for the first time. Pure’s Taxation division’s Stewart King discusses the backdrop to increased tax control and how Pure are assisting organisations with their tax requirements.

Over the last five years, the commercial and economic climate has experienced unprecedented change in a number of areas, in particular within the field of taxation. With liquidity issues at the forefront of most business decisions and heightened focus on corporate governance, the challenges facing today’s Tax Director and CFO have greatly expanded.

Increased internal and external scrutiny of the performance of Tax Directors and CFOs has highlighted the need for effective tax risk management. This includes the overall management of the tax department as well as implementation of new reporting standards and tax processes.

What has changed?

Corporate scandal, consequential legal upheaval, heightened regulation and governance have all resulted in the transformation of how any business addresses tax and treasury.  The requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley on SEC registrants have had an impact far beyond the US.  Other jurisdictions, including the EU are taking steps to strengthen the corporate governance requirements for publicly listed companies.  With the Walker Review recently published and the Conservatives proposing the abolition of the FSA with a new regulatory structure, some radical change is imminent.

Against the regulatory background, EU country accession and the growth of multinationals into new, emerging markets has brought its own challenges.  Increasingly branches and corporate entities, together with shared service operations, have been established in Eastern Europe and the Far East, presenting the challenge and opportunity of dealing with different tax regimes and interpretations.

Combining these concerns with the new sign off procedures required by a Senior Accounting Officer in the 2009 Finance Bill has resulted in a growing awareness of tax risk management and accordingly set a trend of building in-house tax capability.  There is greater onus than ever on all corporate functions to implement best practice. Accordingly we are seeing a large number of our clients setting up ‘green field‘ tax functions or upskilling on their existing incumbents / capabilities.

How Pure is aligned to assist

Here at Pure, we are currently in dialogue with a number of business leaders across the FTSE 250, inbounds and mid caps to provide consultation as to what options are available. It is our firm belief that there cannot be a ’one size fits all‘ mentality to managing this process and we provide a free consultation service where we aim to understand how tax is currently being managed and discuss courses of action with the relevant parties.

For further information, client references or to schedule a free consultation, please do not hesitate to contact Stewart King on 020 7429 4444 or stewartking@puretaxtaion.com.