8JUNE - 2023By Jennifer Segall, Tax Director, ASTECTIME TO GET SAAS-Y? CONSIDERATIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL FINANCE TRANSFORMATIONKnowing your processes inside and out and understanding who does what in your organization is key to articulating what needs to change to get to future stateThe below viewpoints are my own and are in no way representative of my current nor prior employers.Have you ever examined a process in your finance & accounting function and thought "there has to be a better way"? You may have uncovered an opportunity ripe for transformation. As a senior tax professional with 16 years working for multi-billion US public multinationals, I have experienced several transformation initiatives of all sizes. Examples include tax initiatives such as Onesource Income Tax & Provision and Global transformations such as Oracle Cloud. I have experienced a myriad of issues that can make or break the success of finance transformation. Many of eight considerations below are applicable to options other than a SAAS, or efforts outside of finance altogether.1. Choose low hanging fruit. CFO's, CAO's, and Heads of Tax are continually asked to do more with less. A challenge I've seen with transformation efforts is selecting what to transform. Another is starting off too large in scope. Especially at smaller organizations, it is key to start small to build momentum and not overwhelm staff. Brainstorm within your team to determine the low hanging fruit: processes that chew up time and would take minimal investment to transform. 2. Make the case. A robust business case is essential for articulating the potential of the investment and receiving approval. Questions to consider for making the case are:· What are the cost savings? Always remember that time is money. Could your team insource work previously outsourced?· What is the opportunity cost? In what areas can your staff better allocate their time to drive value? What does it cost to not make the investment?· How can quality be increased, and risk be reduced? I've seen audit deficiencies due to inadequate technology to complete items such as the tax provision. Selecting a tax software or SAAS is one way to minimize risk in this area. · How does this allow your team members to upskill? One factor in employee retention is giving employees learning opportunities to upskill and leverage new skills in their work.Jennifer SegallOPINIONIN MY
< Page 7 | Page 9 >