Encore: Driving Emphasis on Analysis for Finance: Focus on Automation

Ah, taxes! A bit of “humor” on a definitely serious topic for every enterprise: * Benjamin Franklin: “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” * Bonnie Raitt: “Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet – nobody taxes the sun yet.” * Arthur C. Clarke: “The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.” Ok, time to get serious. The EY 2020 Tax and Finance Operate survey reported that 51% of all respondents expected an increase to their organization’s tax risk profile from complying with emerging digital tax filing requirements, while a whopping 84% expected it to increase the workload of the tax and finance function. EY’s 2022 Tax and Finance Operations Survey found 84% of respondents are actively transforming to tackle challenges. Talent, legislative and regulatory changes, and future-proofing technology are key concerns for Tax and Finance functions. And the COVID-19 pandemic worsened some challenges, accelerating the need to transform. Reality check: With new regulatory announcements coming every month, your business needs to adapt your processes to remain sustainable and profitable. How do intelligent businesses like yours take your tax transformation as a strategic turning point for operational efficiency and seamless compliance? Stop deprioritizing – or worse, ignoring – your company’s tax function in digital business transformation initiatives. We’ll ask Erika Buson, Sveinung Baumann-Larsen and Vicky Bradford for their insights on The Digital Enterprise: Turning Taxes Into Opportunity!

The Buzz 1: “As specialized tools and technology have emerged, the role of CFO has evolved. CFOs of companies large and small need to embrace flexibility, develop global strategies, and shift their focus to look forward rather than back.” (www.teampay.co/insights/cfo-quotes/) The Buzz 2: “When you are a successful company, you have to fight really hard to make sure you avoid complacency, arrogance, bureaucracy.” (Marianne Lake, CFO of JPMorgan Chase) The Buzz 3: “The CFO needs to be supported by a strategic FP&A team that is excellent at all levels… a team that is prepared for where the company is going—not where it’s been.” (Jim Johnson, Former CFO of Adaptive Insights) Amid globally turbulent times, today’s Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) function is striving to spend less of its time “Planning” and more time delivering value-added “Analysis” to its business constituents. How? Finance and its IT support teams need to focus on the future, utilizing the available modern tools – Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Analytics and Collaboration. Similar to the automotive industry working to deliver safe, self-driving vehicles, FP&A needs to “feel the need, the need for speed” [quoting Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the Top Gun films] to drive automated or, even better, autonomous planning. What steps can your FP&A team take to harness technology today in order to optimize their time delivering the best possible analysis to your organization tomorrow? We’ll ask Finance professionals Paul Davis at Analysis Prime, Colin Chu at SAP and Nilly Essaides at NeuGroup for their take on Driving The Emphasis on Analysis for Finance: Focus on Automation.

The Buzz 1: Most of the countries negotiating a global overhaul of cross-border taxation of multinationals have backed plans for new rules on where companies are taxed and a tax rate of at least 15%… A global minimum corporate income tax of at least 15% could yield around $150 billion in additional global tax revenues annually. 130 countries, representing more than 90% of global GDP, had backed the agreement at the talks. New rules on where the biggest multinationals are taxed would shift taxing rights on more than $100 billion of profits to countries where the profits are earned. [reuters.com – 2021-07-01] The Buzz 2: As of 4 November 2021, over 135 countries and jurisdictions joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate. [oecd.org] Look up! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s global minimum tax. Will your company be hit and if yes, how hard? Global minimum tax rules, aka “Pillar Two Model Rules”, are set to go into effect in 2024. Developed as part of the OECD/G20 BEPS 2.0 project, these rules will dramatically change the international tax landscape and create significant new tax reporting and compliance requirements for affected organizations, in every industry. With the clock ticking, your Finance organization needs to understand the potential impacts of these rules and develop a comprehensive technology-centered plan. Priorities to cover: adapting internal processes and systems to manage the new computations and data requirements, calculating your global minimum tax liabilities and satisfying reporting obligations. Saddle up! We’ll ask Sveinung Baumann-Larsen at EY, Erika Buson at SAP and Matthias Klein at BASF for their take on The Arrival of Minimum Taxes: A New World Order.

The Buzz 1: Most of the countries negotiating a global overhaul of cross-border taxation of multinationals have backed plans for new rules on where companies are taxed and a tax rate of at least 15%… A global minimum corporate income tax of at least 15% could yield around $150 billion in additional global tax revenues annually. 130 countries, representing more than 90% of global GDP, had backed the agreement at the talks. New rules on where the biggest multinationals are taxed would shift taxing rights on more than $100 billion of profits to countries where the profits are earned. [reuters.com – 2021-07-01] The Buzz 2: As of 4 November 2021, over 135 countries and jurisdictions joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate. [oecd.org] Look up! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s global minimum tax. Will your company be hit and if yes, how hard? Global minimum tax rules, aka “Pillar Two Model Rules”, are set to go into effect in 2024. Developed as part of the OECD/G20 BEPS 2.0 project, these rules will dramatically change the international tax landscape and create significant new tax reporting and compliance requirements for affected organizations, in every industry. With the clock ticking, your Finance organization needs to understand the potential impacts of these rules and develop a comprehensive technology-centered plan. Priorities to cover: adapting internal processes and systems to manage the new computations and data requirements, calculating your global minimum tax liabilities and satisfying reporting obligations. Saddle up! We’ll ask Sveinung Baumann-Larsen at EY, Erika Buson at SAP and Matthias Klein at BASF for their take on The Arrival of Minimum Taxes: A New World Order.

The Buzz 1: “Purposeful storytelling isn’t show business, it’s good business.” [Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, co-owner of NBA’s Golden State Warriors and MLB’s LA Dodgers] The Buzz 2: “Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bar graphs never can.” [Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow, co-authors, The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming into the Void, and Make People Love You] The Buzz 3: “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.” [Robert McKee, Story Mentor] These wise words about storytelling impact today’s Finance planning and analysis function, as the CFO’s team sees the value of weaving a narrative around actual events, explaining variances, and providing guidance. As the role of Finance evolves to a strategic business partner, the team needs to equip itself with the right tools to be a great storyteller. Beyond old-school spreadsheets, they need modern analytics, trusted data and actionable dashboards so they can recommend and guide their organizations to make the best business decisions. We’ll ask Brian Kalish, Pras Chatterjee and Greg Wright for their take on Enhanced Planning and Analysis: The Super-Power of Storytelling and Analytics.

The soccer great Pelé [the all-time leading goal scorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games] famously and wisely observed, “No individual can win a game by himself.” Pelé’s words stand true beyond the soccer pitch. In the business world, they resonate even louder for the Finance function. To bring the entire organization together in Planning and Analysis as well as strategy, Finance needs to adopt a “business partnership” mantra. While it’s generally accepted that all lines of business in an organization will “plan”, bringing these plans together collaboratively requires financial and operational skills, technical savvy and most importantly, leadership. As a leader and a business partner, Finance can become instrumental in enhancing the Planning and Analysis function to become an xP&A group – Extended Planning and Analysis – for organizational success, especially in our financially dynamic and turbulent times. We’ll ask Anders Larsen Liu-Lindberg at The Business Partnering Institute, Pras Chatterjee at SAP, and Jeff Hattendorf at Macrospect for their take on Pele's words of wisdom as we explore The Power of Business Partnering: Enhancing Planning and Analysis.

The Buzz 1: “Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have extra. It’s a critical piece of the puzzle for companies looking to stay ahead of the competition and protect their bottom lines.[smart.arqlite.com] The Buzz 2: “For companies focused on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) efforts, metrics matter…Each industry and organization will have different metrics that are material to their business.” [gobyinc.com] The Buzz 3: “Some companies report only their greenhouse gas emissions…others publish glossy reports about their CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives or use their ESG ratings as a badge of honor.” [hbr.org] Yes, sustainability strategy and reporting are hot topics and management priorities for organizations’ internal and external stakeholders. Why? They can tangibly impact the ability to access finance, attract talent and grow market share. The big picture: Worldwide compliance requirements are driving sustainability initiatives, but the metrics to manage and report against can vary by sector, by country, by strategy. Organizations need to not only make future commitments about sustainability metrics, but also to demonstrate their plan to maintain and improve overall corporate performance. Forward-thinking organizations see sustainability reporting as an opportunity to spearhead new opportunities, efficiencies and growth, which require performance management capability and culture. Where to start? We’ll ask Michel Haesendonckx at SAP and Esteban Rastrollo at EY for their insights on Sustainability Performance Management: Business Imperative vs Wishful Thinking?

Ah, taxes! A bit of “humor” on a definitely serious topic for every enterprise: * Benjamin Franklin: “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” * Bonnie Raitt: “Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet – nobody taxes the sun yet.” * Arthur C. Clarke: “The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.” Ok, time to get serious. The EY 2020 Tax and Finance Operate survey reported that 51% of all respondents expected an increase to their organization’s tax risk profile from complying with emerging digital tax filing requirements, while a whopping 84% expected it to increase the workload of the tax and finance function. EY’s 2022 Tax and Finance Operations Survey found 84% of respondents are actively transforming to tackle challenges. Talent, legislative and regulatory changes, and future-proofing technology are key concerns for Tax and Finance functions. And the COVID-19 pandemic worsened some challenges, accelerating the need to transform. Reality check: With new regulatory announcements coming every month, your business needs to adapt your processes to remain sustainable and profitable. How do intelligent businesses like yours take your tax transformation as a strategic turning point for operational efficiency and seamless compliance? Stop deprioritizing – or worse, ignoring – your company’s tax function in digital business transformation initiatives. We’ll ask Erika Buson, Sveinung Baumann-Larsen and Vicky Bradford for their insights on The Digital Enterprise: Turning Taxes Into Opportunity!

The Buzz 1: “As specialized tools and technology have emerged, the role of CFO has evolved. CFOs of companies large and small need to embrace flexibility, develop global strategies, and shift their focus to look forward rather than back.” (www.teampay.co/insights/cfo-quotes/) The Buzz 2: “When you are a successful company, you have to fight really hard to make sure you avoid complacency, arrogance, bureaucracy.” (Marianne Lake, CFO of JPMorgan Chase) The Buzz 3: “The CFO needs to be supported by a strategic FP&A team that is excellent at all levels… a team that is prepared for where the company is going—not where it’s been.” (Jim Johnson, Former CFO of Adaptive Insights) Amid globally turbulent times, today’s Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) function is striving to spend less of its time “Planning” and more time delivering value-added “Analysis” to its business constituents. How? Finance and its IT support teams need to focus on the future, utilizing the available modern tools – Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Analytics and Collaboration. Similar to the automotive industry working to deliver safe, self-driving vehicles, FP&A needs to “feel the need, the need for speed” [quoting Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the Top Gun films] to drive automated or, even better, autonomous planning. What steps can your FP&A team take to harness technology today in order to optimize their time delivering the best possible analysis to your organization tomorrow? We’ll ask Finance professionals Paul Davis at Analysis Prime, Colin Chu at SAP and Nilly Essaides at NeuGroup for their take on Driving The Emphasis on Analysis for Finance: Focus on Automation.

The Buzz 1: In his 2007 book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable”, author and former options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb focuses on the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable outlier events—and the human tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events, retrospectively. He calls this the Black Swan theory. The Buzz 2: “If you ever do have to heed a forecast, keep in mind that its accuracy degrades rapidly as you extend it through time.” The Buzz 3: “We see the obvious and visible consequences, not the invisible and less obvious ones. Yet those unseen consequences…generally are more meaningful.” Gone are the days when, as a whole, Planning & Analysis for the office of the CFO and the enterprise could be ‘just OK.’ With black swan events becoming the norm, requiring guidance and scenario modeling, FP&A can no longer wait on gathering data from convoluted spreadsheets and uncollaborative business units. Yes, the pressure is on the CFO to deliver highly credible plans and ever better analysis. But how? The answer: Modern planning processes and tools – adopting extended planning and analysis, analytics and visualization, and machine learning – will help you transform your company’s Finance function from good to great. We’ll ask Jon Essig at SimpleFi Solutions, Chris Ortega at Fresh FP&A, and Floyd Conrad at SAP for their take on The Black Swan vs Transforming Your FP&A from Good to Great!