Survey Says: Tax Functions Lag in Adoption of Modern Technology

New research based on survey responses from more than 300 U.S.-based tax professionals sends a clear message to tax functions regarding the need to up their technology game:

Given the perfect storm of not enough tax talent, increasing regulatory complexity, and greater compliance burden, you would think that tax departments would be increasingly turning to technology to help address the challenges. Yet, it seems that tax departments are still lagging behind some of their counterparts in other parts of the enterprise.

Woah.

This get-it-in-gear message comes courtesy of a recent Bloomberg Tax survey report, which examines how tax functions are evolving and identifies the top challenges they encounter while doing so. We’ll take a closer look at those challenges in another post. Here, I want to zero in on the top impediments the survey identifies related to technology and how a lack of modern technology impacts the tax function.

Most tax departments believe technology that enables them to automate compliance, manage legislative changes, minimize reliance on spreadsheets and improve management of tax data is beneficial and can help them address many of their “biggest tax challenges.” Yet, 55% of chief tax officers believe their function is not keeping pace with technological innovations. So, what’s holding them back? Well, technology can be challenging. Forty-five percent of survey respondents indicated that implementation of new technology or merely making better use of existing licensed technology is one of their biggest challenges.

Of the other issues, here are some notable findings from the survey:

• 47 percent: The portion of respondents who identify the management of tax data as the function’s biggest challenge.
• 48 percent: The portion of respondents who identify “reliance on spreadsheets or other manual work” as their function’s largest tax provision challenge (the most frequently cited response).
• 57 percent: The portion of respondents who identify legislative tracking, tax reform, and staying up to date on changes as their biggest tax challenge.
• 80 percent: The portion of respondents who feel that keeping up with tax reporting and control requirements is becoming more difficult.

These figures should persuade tax executives and their teams to 1) consider how tax technology improvements can help their functions; and 2) develop compelling business cases for new investments and improvements, including implementation and training of their staff. If additional motivation is needed, the Bloomberg report cites a persuasive message from a 2018 Deloitte report:

CFOs want to know that chief tax officers are efficiently and effectively using technology. While tax may have lagged other parts of the organization in terms of embracing newer technologies (think artificial intelligence, robotics, and digitization), that’s changing. And given the role of the tax team today, the changing regulatory environment, and the continued struggle to hire and retain tax talent, that’s a good thing.