Gen AI technology will transform how tax teams work. Microsoft’s Richard Bowes and KPMG’s Stuart Tait look at how tax leaders can get the most from it.
Generative AI is set to drive the greatest leap forward in productivity since personal computers were introduced around 30 years ago.
Tools like Microsoft Copilot will enable tax teams to get far more done with the same resources. And that’s going to be crucial in a climate where you need to get the most you possibly can from your people.
The case for Gen AI in tax
As global tax regulation ramps up, and reporting increasingly goes digital, you’ll need to keep your team focused on strategic, higher-value work, rather than administrative tasks. That will mean giving them the tools to automate repeatable, process-driven actions. Failing to do so will leave them unable to add the value the business demands.
It will also lead to an uncompetitive employee proposition. The Microsoft Work Trends Index found that 75% of employees now use gen AI in their day-to-day jobs. The best tax talent will therefore expect you to provide the latest productivity tools. Skilled tax professionals won’t put up with carrying out mundane tasks that they know AI can perform.
Plus, if you don’t equip your staff with these tools, they’ll soon find their own – with all the associated security risks.
What’s more, gen AI tools enhance inclusiveness. Copilot can help neurodiverse individuals, for example, to navigate the subtleties and complexities of human communication over digital platforms. That’s why Microsoft rolled it out to the disabled community within its workforce first of all.
Laying the foundations
With so many advantages on offer, it can be tempting to rush headlong into investing in gen AI. The danger being that you end up with multiple solutions, all doing similar things. It’s not unheard of for firms to have 50 or more AI tools live, with capabilities that inevitably overlap. That’s hardly cost-efficient.
Embracing the power of AI requires careful preparation. The key is to know what problems you want it to solve, rather than implementing a solution, then looking for problems to point it at. If you pick up a hammer and start looking for nails, everything tends to look like a nail.
Begin by identifying your pain points, and how AI tools can help address them. This can be achieved by following three fundamental principles:
1. Discover how your people work
Nobody is 100% productive all of the time: there are always barriers to overcome and gaps to be filled.
Interview your team members, to catalogue the tasks they carry out – across VAT, transfer pricing, corporate taxes, and so on. Segment them according to the jobs they’re doing; create user personas and define their needs.
Find out what can be improved. Which tasks are shared, and which are unique? Which can be automated by AI? How could communication be made easier?
2. Find out where your data is stored
AI solutions are only as good as the knowledge you give them to work on. So you’ll need to know where that knowledge is kept.
That’s not likely to be as straightforward as it sounds, as no two people will store the same information in the same way.
Speak to the employees who create and use the data the tax team requires. Find out how and where different functions and individuals store that information. And make sure you can access it quickly and easily when necessary.
3. Shape your AI solution
Most AI tools are designed to work in any function, whatever the industry, which means they do pretty much the same things out of the box.
Their real value lies in how you customise them. Work with your IT function, and your tax technology partners, to tailor your solution to your tax scenarios and user needs.
Don’t go it alone
Getting the basics right before introducing AI tools is what will ensure you get maximum benefit from them. Otherwise, adoption – and impact – will be limited.
Much of that groundwork will be beyond ‘business as usual’ for tax leaders and their teams. You’ll need to work with expert partners who understand AI technology; know how to deploy it in a tax context; and can help you maximise the value you derive from it.
Generative AI represents the fastest, most far-reaching transformation of the tax function for three decades. Make sure you’re ready for it.
KPMG has developed a framework to guide tax leaders and their teams through the steps outlined in this blog. Please get in touch to learn more about our AI Accelerator programme.
