Is the finance leaders’ desire to carry out a bold digital transformation plan fizzling out? As per a survey, their digital roadmap falls short on ambition for the next five years as nearly 59 per cent of decision makers are satisfied with compliant enough operations and maintaining the company reputation.
“Decision makers’ five-year plans and digital transformation ambitions appear to be equally restrained with investments in the coming year,” stated the release by Thomson Reuters which conducted this survey with iResearch Services titled, ‘Digital Agendas: How Tax Compliance and Finance Leaders are Preparing for 2024’ on 650 professionals.
In terms of investment, the report highlighted that tax tech investment will continue to rise. Around 84 per cent will increase spend on tax tech by 10 per cent or more in the next 12 months.
Though the increase in investment is in expected lines, it is to be noted that only 17 per cent of decision makers are planning to increase more than 50 per cent, who see a high value in digital transformation projects.
Almost 67 per cent believe that their spending on tech will rise by 10 per cent or more, but less than 50 percent.
The digital roadmap
There seems to be a diverse range of plans on the agenda for finance leaders from purpose-built, in-house tax technology to restructuring tax teams.
Over 62 per cent are planning to invest in purpose-built tax technology with API functionality.
In-house tax technology is on the roadmap for close to 30 per cent. And the same (30 per cent) plan to upgrade their native ERP systems.
“These results reflect a growing trend towards transforming tax operations to achieve cost savings and real-time data,” the report stated.
Whereas, around 26 per cent are looking to restructure their tax teams, either partially or fully. “The goal here is twofold: to reduce operating costs and to repurpose the tax department to concentrate on higher-value activities. This reflects a shift in the role of tax departments from an operations function to a more strategic one,” as per the report.
The Digital Transformation in Tax Compliance and Statutory Reporting 2023 Survey Report draws on quantitative insights from a survey of 650 professionals. The survey was conducted by iResearch Services for Thomson Reuters in May and June 2023.
