Every time I read a report about the challenges facing corporate tax executives, I think about the private conversations shared with them over three decades. For those who have little interaction or understanding of corporate tax leaders and their responsibilities, it is important to learn what keeps them awake at night!
As I grew up in retained search to find hundreds of leaders of corporate tax organizations over the years; hired to search for the first tax executive in China representing a US multinational; hired to find the first Tax Partners of U.S. tax practices alongside of their European counterparts;with a list of clients including https://www.taxconnections.com/search_services/clients, the lessons and insights were valuable. I learned what keeps lead tax executives awake at night!
What I hear time and time again from tax executives as to what keeps them awake at night, they tell me it is the “the complexities and the unknown of the worldwide tax rules and regulations”. How is it be possible for anyone to keep up with it all the tax rules? How is it be possible not to make a mistake? What is the exposure? How do you minimize mistakes? What are the auditors asking for now? How do they find the information and document request from the revenue authorities in multiple countries? What if the last person responsible for this area of tax did not leave a well-documented audit trail? How did they happen to encounter the worst and most aggressive auditor? All of these questions come into the mind of a tax executive and keep them awake at night!
Corporate tax matters are complicated, risks are inevitable. Smart and seasoned tax executives know this so they assess where best to focus their time. Where is the most loss of tax revenue? Transfer pricing, international, state and local and sales and use taxes are hot areas full of complexities so the auditors are spending time in these areas digging for low hanging fruit. You can bet the corporate tax executives are awake at night thinking about these matters. If they make a mistake, they could lose their job.
Every time a new CFO or soon to be retiring VP Tax calls and retains me on a search, the first thing I want to know is the reporting relationship of the tax executive to management. For instance, do they have the VP Tax reporting to the CFO or to a Controller? Unless you have my experience and knowledge of private conversations with thousands of tax executives, you may never hear this conversation. The lead tax executives “do not want to report to anyone other than the CFO”. If there is one bit of advice I would give every CFO it would be have the lead tax executive report directly to them. Anything other than that kind of reporting relationship and you are setting yourself and your company up for trouble at some point, no exceptions!
Corporate tax executives have a very tough job! What I would also tell you is that they are intelligent, highly educated, work very hard and are constantly under filing deadlines and fire drills for auditors requests. They are extraordinary performers and very valuable to every organization. They are genuinely making a difference to the bottom line of corporations today. Investors should be happy to attract these brilliant minds to their organizations. After all, Federal and State tax authorities are working hard to find revenue for the government; while tax executives are working extra hard to ensure the company keeps its hard earned revenue.
If you currently have a retained search for a corporate tax executive, please contact kat@taxconnections.com or call 858-999-0053.
Kat Jennings, TaxConnections, CEO and Founder and Advisory Team provides three areas of services: 1) Internationally recognized, retained executive search services for multinational corporations, public accounting firms, and law firms; 2) Introductions of sellers to buyers of small and medium size accounting firms; and 3) Provide brand building and education services that support and prepare accounting firm owners to buy/sell an accounting practice. We focus on educating the journey to sell a practice and how to increase firm revenue prior to any sale. Our program ensures you start years prior to a sale by learning what is expected of you during the selling process, and introducing firm Partners to cross selling opportunities that are easy to implement and reduce your workload at the same time. We introduce you to value added connections to smartly grow revenue in your accounting practice.
Kat Jennings has been retained by organizations worldwide to locate tax professionals with highly specialized tax knowledge and expertise. She has a thorough understanding of the tax business community, with a proven record of stellar performances matching professionals with organizations. Bringing two parties together to work successfully is the art of understanding personalities, cultural fit, expectations by both parties, flexible or inflexible work environments, understanding what drives and motivates each party, and revolves around the personality and ethics of each executive team.
Kat is a widely recognized expert in high level, tax executive search, as well as connecting buyers and sellers of accounting firms. TaxConnections provides and educates small to medium size accounting firms owners and Partners how to prepare and sell their firms so they can build a succession plan for their retirement. With larger firms seeking to acquire smaller accounting practices, there is a real need to help firm owners prepare to be acquired. Most firm owners are unaware they are not ready to sell when they decide to retire. TaxConnections educates firm owners’ what they need to do years in advance of selling an accounting firm practice.
Senior tax executives expect the utmost privacy when being introduced to multinational organizations about a new tax opportunity under consideration. Having said that, companies searching for a new head of tax expecting tax executive candidates to submit their resume through a resume portal, will never see a full slate of outstanding tax executives available due to a candidates’ desire for greater privacy. This is why privacy focused Uber Tax Recruiters consistently outperform in-house recruiters on tax executive searches.
We offer our clients a Performance Retainer Agreement arrangement so their HR department can still recruit and compete with the tax candidates we present on Head of Tax searches. The client pays us a partial fee upfront, and if they find a candidate they deem better than we introduce to them, we forfeit the final fee. Most of the time, they love and prefer our private introductions to tax executive candidates better than what they source through their own resume portals.
When we represent selling/buying small to medium-sized firms, firm owners/partners also demand greater privacy when considering the sale of their practice. TaxConnections provides a safe place to discuss their business needs, elevate their practices’ online reputation, and increase revenue through new streams of business development by outsourcing work and partnering with other firms. Over three decades, we have worked tirelessly to build relationships between firm owners most organizations rarely have access to in the world of tax. There are numerous possibilities you may never have considered previously to bolster the value of your practice and service offerings.
As a globally recognized consultant to multinational organizations, accounting firms, and law firms searching for tax expertise, Kat has been retained by public accounting firms, law firms, and corporations worldwide including Apple Computer, AC Neilson, Accenture, Agilent Technologies, Allergan, Alza, American Express, American Media, Aon, Baker & McKenzie, Barclays Bank, Bechtel, Cargill, Carl Zieuss Vision, Century Aluminum, Chevron, Clorox, Citigroup, Commercials Metals, Constellation Energy, Countrywide, Del Monte, Deloitte Touche, DFS, DLA Piper, E&J Gallo Winery, Electronic Arts, Ernst &Young, Fox Entertainment, Fremont Investments, General Electric,General Motors, Herbalife, Hewlett Packard, Hyatt, Intel, Jones Lang LaSalle, Kimco Realty, KLA Tencor, Koch Industries, KPMG, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, LKQ, Loews, Logitech, Lucas Film, Maersk, McKesson, Nalco, Newell Rubbermaid, Nissan, Oracle, Orbitax, Pacific Gas & Electric, PwC, QAD, SAIC, SanDisk, Sanmina, Sempra Energy, SONY, Synopsys, Ticketmaster, Trimble Navigation, Toyota, Univar, Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, Vertex, Yahoo, Xilinx, and many more not listed here.
Contact Kat at 858,999.0053 Office/858.232.4415 Cell or kat@taxconnections.com to request a private consultation regarding the sale of your practice, adding top talent to your organization, or merging your practice with another firm owner with a book of business. The possibilities are endless; if you have a dream of a new vision for your professional life; we will scout opportunities throughout the market to make it happen.
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