Tax compliance is a broad category encompassing a wide range of topics, but this does not seem to concern Seattle-based Avalara, as it offers accountants an equally broad range of solutions.
The company, which has 16 offices globally, provides cloud-based software products that handle sales and use tax, as well as others like VAT, GST, excise, communications, lodging and many others across many different industries. With over 1,200 signed partner integrations with other systems, the company is able to add their tax solution power to other areas like compliance document management, business licenses, a tax research platform, cross-border compliance, or transfer pricing reports.
Founded in 2004, the company's focus on cloud solutions specifically has allowed its flagship product, AvaTax, to automate calculations across more than 12,000 jurisdictions in the U.S. alone. In just the last year, the software was contacted by other programs or applications 39.6 billion times to get information or perform a task; with Avalara Returns, meanwhile, Avalara processed and filed more than 5.2 million returns in the same time.
Sona Akmakjian, Avalara's head of global strategic accounting partnerships, shared with Accounting Today some of its latest plans and priorities, as well as some thoughts on the current state of the accounting technology landscape.
How would you best describe what your company does?
Akmakjian: Avalara helps businesses of all sizes get tax compliance right. We deliver cloud-based tax compliance in real-time to more than 30,000 global customers, and features more than 1,200 signed partner integrations designed to link to business applications used for accounting, ERP, e-commerce, POS, recurring billing, and CRM systems. In addition to sales and use, Avalara solutions address a variety of tax types including VAT, GST, excise, communications, lodging, and others across industries and global geographies.
What was the last big initiative or project your company completed?
Akmakjian: Our latest big initiative is the reimagined Avalara for Accountants partner program, enabling firms to refer Avalara to clients, implement Avalara solutions and leverage purpose-built technology tools, including Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants, and Avalara Returns for Accountants. This agile approach to partnership gives firms, from the Big Four to small practitioners, a variety of ways to work with Avalara at the client level.
What is the most exciting new thing you're working on?
Akmakjian: We're excited about the expansion of our Avalara for Accountants toolset, which gives firms the technology to simplify, streamline, and scale their compliance practice, and includes sales tax return preparation, a tax research platform, and business license management. Recent additions to the Avalara for Accountants toolset lineup are Avalara Property Tax for Accountants, which manages all property tax compliance activities across real and personal property managed in one central hub, and Avalara Transfer Pricing Reports for Accountants, which automates the transfer pricing documentation process.
What is the biggest technology challenge facing accountants today?
Akmakjian: The biggest tech challenge facing accountants is the tech stack — or combination of technologies a firm uses to run a practice — and the necessary interoperability that allows accountants to better serve their clients. The tech stack is more critical now than ever before due to the ongoing talent shortage, the expanding needs of clients, and the expanding demands on accountants to provide more advisory services. And all of this in the context of ongoing pressure to be more efficient and profitable.
If you could telepathically transmit one sentence into the head of every accountant in the world, what would that sentence be?
Akmakjian: If you think about cruise control versus self-driving cars, the truth is that a driver still needs to be able to maintain control even with self-driving, and the same holds true for the future of compliance — we're moving quickly toward a future where compliance can be completely autonomous, but a tax expert or business owner will still need to keep control of the process.
Avalara at a glance:
- Headquarters: Seattle
- Total global offices: 16
- Staff: 4,800
- Customers: 30,000+
- Website:
https://www.avalara.com/
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