Tax-sensitive ERPs deliver added value from new implementations

Tax technology investment is crucial in today’s environment. Global regulatory pressures, changing tax laws and accounting standards, and increased demands from tax authorities add stress to already burdened tax departments. This new reality demands that tax departments provide input to transitional enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations from start to finish.

CFOs must promote tax planning (not just tax accounting) throughout the entire lifecycle of ERP implementations. This holistic approach can optimize tax processes, improve costs, increase agility, and unlock business value. Tax is one of the largest users of data, giving CFOs an important role in large-scale ERP planning.

Tax professionals should work with professionals from across the organization and specifically IT teams to develop overall ERP capabilities that prioritize tax and make tax data available in real time. CFOs can ensure that tax technologists align with IT initiatives to share information and help drive the most inclusive solution architecture possible.

CFOs who support ERP implementations add tremendous potential value to tax teams because they bring C-suite oversight to tax specifications and requirements. The business case is straightforward: incorporating tax requirements into ERP systems has positive implications for the rest of the business.  With budgets flat or shrinking, CFOs should advocate for the right balance of technology and people to address these issues.