Tax: A truly commercial opportunity

Why have in-house tax positions and other similar roles been appearing on accountancy job boards across the internet? It seems that over the last year there has been an explosion of this style of job opportunity. Top accountancy practices are now being matched role for role, job for job by commercial/in-house opportunities.

There are very strong reasons for this trend developing. Prior to 2010, one of the key trends in the taxation market was the increased desire amongst companies to bring a tax resource in-house for the first time – a so-called Greenfield position. This was in part due to the economic climate that underwent unprecedented change, and throughout that period of time the field of taxation saw significant changes and developments.
 
Liquidity issues rose to the forefront of groups’ business decisions, and the challenges that faced Tax Directors and CFOs alike greatly expanded and evolved. Other issues that changed and challenged previous corporate thinking around taxation matters were the corporate scandals, increased regulation and governance. This heightened scrutiny from both internal and external forces highlighted the need for effective risk management, especially around the complex and technical area of tax. The overall management of tax departments, as well as the implementation of newly-introduced reporting standards (FIN48, FAS109) and tax processes, led to this desire to bring tax functions in-house so there could be greater control over this business function.

The 2009 Finance Bill was a rude awakening to UK-based businesses to the need to manage tax risk. Accordingly, the trend of building in-house tax capability began. There is now a far greater onus than ever on all corporate functions to implement best practice regarding tax matters. Subsequently, we are assisting a significant proportion of our clients in setting up these ‘Greenfield’ tax functions. As always, one of the significant advantages of having tax functions in-house is that it enables companies to add significant commerciality to their finance function, through the expertise that a tax professional brings.

Owing to the success of these initial Greenfield positions, other groups are now starting to go through the same thought processes and initiate searches for suitable candidates, and those who initially set up functions are now seeking to expand their tax functions.

One of the first positions these newly-established tax teams seek is that of an indirect tax expert. This is a direct result of increased legislation around this area of taxation from both the UK and EU. This has led to a greater demand on those candidates with expertise in this niche area of tax. But what has led to the success of these virgin tax functions? Candidates.

As always within recruitment, and especially tax recruitment, there has been a premium on those candidates with the ideal experience. But what makes a ‘perfect’ tax candidate? Clients always initially seek candidates with a blend of experience between leading accountancy practices and sector specific industry/in-house work. However, this isn’t always essential, and as with all niche recruitment the candidates with the strongest technical ability will almost inevitably be the most successful.

The success of these Greenfield positions is always down to the availability of suitable candidates, and with the year progressing and recruitment starting to increase across the board, these candidates will be at a premium.

As Benjamin Franklin once said: “Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” However with the market as it is, the only thing that seems certain is that the need for tax accountants will continue to increase.



Matthew Tupper is a taxation consultant, working on the highly experienced and specialised tax team at Marks Sattin. He covers all aspects of the taxation recruitment market, from Leading Banks, Top Accountancy Practises and Multinationals through to PE Houses, Tax Consultancies and Small Enterprises.