Finding Tax Solutions for the Future

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Cathy Rowe, VP of Product Management for Tax at Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting North America, recently sat down with Accounting Today's Editor-in-Chief Dan Hood to talk about the top accounting industry and technology trends affecting tax professionals.

Watch the entire video or keep reading for the highlights of their discussion.

What are some of the big trends you see affecting tax professionals as we move into 2022?

There are quite a few trends affecting tax and accounting firms right now. At Wolters Kluwer, we’re seeing the increasing complexity of legislation, and how the rapid pace of change is impacting firms of all sizes, as the top trend.

This rapid pace of legislative change may even be the death of the normal tax season as we once knew it. Changes are coming more often and throughout the entire tax season, leaving professionals with less and less time to become proficient with the tax legislation, and therefore less time to help their customers and deliver the value they need to deliver.

Over the last several years, firms have found efficiencies using advanced technologies such as CCH® ProSystem fx® Scan and AutoFlow TechnologyCCH® ProSystem fx® Scan and AutoFlow TechnologyCCH® ProSystem fx® Scan and AutoFlow TechnologyCCH® ProSystem fx® Scan and AutoFlow TechnologyCCH® ProSystem fx® Scan and AutoFlow Technology. Looking past this, Wolters Kluwer is helping firms level it up a little bit more with tools that help increase their capacity. For example, K1 automation, or tools such as CCH AxcessTM iQCCH AxcessTM iQCCH AxcessTM iQ that help firms understand which of their clients are impacted, and how, by legislation.

The second trend I've been seeing is the shortage of skills/war for talent. Again, this trend is impacting firms of all sizes; firms are stuck between the demands of their clients and the shortage of skills.

We are hearing from firms that they need to better connect their people with processes and technologies. Firms need to look at how they can connect their people through data to help empower staff to make data-driven decisions. This will help with employee morale and staff engagement.

And from a hiring perspective, potential staff are looking for firms using advanced technology that will help them better serve their clients and do what they were trained to do – be a tax professional.

The staffing shortage and looking to support staff working at the top of their skill level is leading to another trend - outsourcing. Firms are looking at ways to augment their staff through outsourcing for audit and tax.

Firms of all sizes are turning to outsourcing when they aren't able to scale their tax or CAS practices as quickly as they need to. This is especially true when it comes to high-volume and transactional work; by outsourcing this type of work, their staff gain the capacity to perform more advisory-based services.

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Tax planning Trends and Technologies Shaping the Future of Tax and Accounting
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