The client—the senior leader in question—had spent several years overseeing various functions within the tax department. When he learned that he would be elevated to the overall tax leadership role, he considered the changes he wanted to make, the team he wanted to assemble, and the challenges he faced. He asked himself what success looked like, and how best to measure it. He recognized that if he were to realize his vision, the tax department needed a new way of thinking, an innovative framework that would make it more efficient, transparent, and important to the company overall. Though he knew what he wanted to accomplish, he was interested in gaining additional perspectives.
A desire for change
Before
After
Future
Replace aging applications that differed across divisions and subsidiaries
Reduce manual, disparate processes freeing up more resources for advanced analytics
Enable enhanced reporting and make it more widely available across the enterprise
Act with greater speed and agility to capture value in acquisitions
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Company-wide
opportunities
Process hundreds of thousands of transactions per month with greater efficiency
Reduce 10,000+ manual journal entries per period
Decrease >3-week close
Shorten the >3-month annual budgeting cycle
Provide better support for a growing e-commerce business
Control rising finance function costs and derive greater value
Finance
opportunities
Reduce 10,000+ manual journal entries per period
Decrease >3-week close
Shorten the >3-month annual budgeting cycle
Provide better support for a growing e-commerce busines
Control rising finance function costs and derive greater value
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Improve technical capabilities to keep pace with increased hiring needs
Reduce dependence on IT and tech resources for supporting and enabling continuous compliance with more than 800 collective bargaining agreements
Unify and automate workforce administration processes across the enterprise
Eliminate the need for employees to learn new systems and interfaces as they move from recruitment to training to managing benefit
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HR
opportunities
Before
Next
After
In the months since he assumed leadership, his team has coalesced. Aligned in support of the articulated vision which they helped to refine, they have begun to transform the tax department. Finance leadership has voiced its confidence in the new vice president, soliciting his opinions and advice, and he has been quick to respond. The transparency he championed has led to greater efficiency—and, thus, value—across the many international jurisdictions in which the company does business. In representing the tax department to the audit committee, he and his team have increased the department’s visibility, and he has more opportunity to demonstrate its contributions to the corporation.
A framework for progress
Developed all the necessary processes to support a single, modernized digital platform serving the entire enterprise
Migrated 290,000 employees from legacy systems to Oracle Cloud
Increased insight-driven decision making across functions, driving performance and growth gains
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Company-wide
success
Decreased balance sheet reconciliations
by 85%
Achieved a consolidated retail and
corporate close within a shortened period
Reduced the types of P&L statements from 100+ to 4
Reduced operations costs across the board
Enhanced availability of data-driven insights that help to capture maximum value during acquisitions
Achieved a consolidated retail and corporate close within a shortened period
Reduced the types of P&L statements from 100+ to 4
Reduced operations costs
across the board
Enhanced availability of data-driven insights that help to capture maximum value during acquisitions
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Finance
successes
HR
successes
Deployed a custom application for union-rule processing enabling a single HCM platform to administer benefits to all employee populations under 800+ complex union agreements
Created a digital-first, digital anywhere experience resulting in higher employee engagement
Reduced new-hire onboarding time
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Reduced new hire onboarding time
Streamlined and improved the process integration of new employees post-acquisition
Integrate processes and technology across the employee lifecycle from recruiting through compensation and performance
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2/2
The roadmap the tax team developed will continue to guide the department’s transformation. As global head of tax, the client is committed to providing a data-driven, technology-enabled tax function that adds value to the company. Despite present-day economic headwinds, the work of consolidating and distributing information to all relevant parties, and investing to effect ongoing change, moves forward.
Continue to enhance analytics-driven planning and forecasting
Optimize the supply chain
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Company-wide
vision
Achieve a continuous, virtual accounting close
Achieved a consolidated retail and corporate close within a shortened period
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Finance
vision
HR
vision
Establish a continual feedback-and-improvement loop based on quarterly HR reports from the field and deployment of new capabilities
Migrate payroll, benefits, and absence management to Oracle cloud for 2023
Insource benefits administration
Sticking with the program
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After
After
Next