Tax accounting services

Today there is ever increasing focus on accuracy in how company groups generate accounting results.

How are these environmental factors becoming more apparent?

• IFRS and US GAAP require properly considered judgement and detailed mechanical accounting of current and deferred tax positions
• Government reviews, e.g. by the US SEC and European Regulators have lead to the restatement of company accounts. A typical cause of the errors prompting the restatement has been poor judgement exercised under time pressure 
• Equities analysts increasingly consider forecast tax positions, especially where there are cash-flow or corporate-reputation risks

What are the resulting business challenges and tax accounting obligations?

Skills shortage: due to the highly technical nature of tax accounting, skilled personnel are in short supply. This skills shortage is compounded by the need for tax accounting reporting to be done in a short time-frame, and several times a year.

Lack of uniformity: tax-accounting standards differ from country to country, even where IFRS have been adopted. Across a multinational group, entities may have to be treated separately and this has to be taken into account for global consolidation purposes. Plus, GAAP conversions to allow consolidation of balance sheets can be particularly onerous.

Coordination effort: for multinationals in particular, coordinating the process of generating timely financial statement and management reporting demands considerable effort.

By addressing these business challenges you can ultimately safeguard your reputation and shareholder value while better managing the stress levels of financial, tax and accounting managers.

What can PwC offer you?

• Tax provisioning and forecasting
• Assistance in preparing or reviewing IFRS, US GAAP or local GAAP tax-accounting obligations
• Effective tax rates: analysis and long-term planning
• Coordination of the service delivery
• Applying technical tax-accounting knowledge and interpreting tax-accounting standards, transactions, business issues and forensic reviews
• FIN 48 (ASC 740-10): assistance with implementation and ongoing maintenance (accounting for uncertain tax positions)
• Purchase price allocation: assisting with all the tax aspects of accounting for business combinations
• Convergence: assisting with the tax-accounting aspects of changing standards as a result of the convergence of US GAAP and IFRS (together with our Global Capital Markets Group)
• Deferred tax true-ups: ‘truing up’ or reconciling companies’ deferred tax accounts
• Reviews: detailed reviews of deferred tax balances, including developing tax-basis balance sheets
• Knowledge transfer: training on tax accounting, tax-accounting policies, etc.
• And other tax-accounting consulting

We can also provide tax-accounting technology services, including assistance in selecting, implementing and using tax-accounting systems.

Our clients' experience and benefits

• Personal comfort level – someone else more qualified takes on the job of preparing or reviewing the tax accounts
• Considerably fewer resource issues – PwC manages time-sensitivity and seasonal activity
• Confidence – more certainty that the numbers are right when talking to internal and external stakeholders
• Control – oversight of how multi-territory computations are consolidated using coordination mechanisms
• Convenience – fast access to tax-accounting experts
• Better planning and forecasting – managing effective tax rates
• Time – you can get on with other things