Nearly half of UK businesses put tax on the agenda of every other audit committee meeting, a new poll has revealed.
One in five businesses discuss tax at every single meeting, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“Overtime and shifting resources are short-term fixes to a growing business need to cope with changes in tax accounting such as IFRS and US GAAP convergence,” Andrew Wiggins, tax director at the firm.
“Better talent management and training are strategic longer-term methods that businesses can adopt now to cope with growing GAAP reporting demands together with improving process efficiency.
Wiggins said that wider emphasis was needed on training within the industry ‘to fulfil future roles that businesses will be looking to fill in the future’.
Around 62% of managers questioned in the poll said staff responsible for tax had taken a course in the last year to keep up with changes to the system.
Wiggins added: “A shift in tax people resource from planning to reporting is inevitable, given the rise in importance of tax on the boardroom agenda.
“Tax and accounting information is notoriously difficult to compile at diarised times, such as the financial year end, but increasingly the business requires such information on a real time basis to make strategic decisions throughout the year.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
