What Does Your CFO Care About and Why Should you Care?
Posted by Kelley Lear on Feb 22, 2012 in Finance, Leadership, Tax, Tax Planning | 0 comments
Every year, I take an in-depth look at what the CFO’s are saying and predicting for the coming year. Last year I shared my findings with you. I thought I would do that again, as this is a pretty important thing to understand. But, why should you care? Well, in most cases the tax department must rely on approval from the CFO for tax department budgets, operational decisions, and other strategic initiatives. Therefore, I believe it is critical to better understand what they are hoping for, struggling with and trying to overcome each year. It can only help you when putting together a business case or trying to prioritize tax department projects, as you may be able to better align with overall CFO and other corporate initiatives. Big fan of doing your homework!
read moreHot Tips to Negotiation for Tax Pros!
Posted by Kelley Lear on Feb 16, 2012 in Empowerment Series, Leadership, Tax | 0 comments
A standard definition of Negotiation is “a conversation or dialogue between two or more people, attempting to reach an understanding or gain advantage of some sort, to resolve a point or competing perspectives, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, or to bargain for an individual or for your team. Negotiation is a process where each party involved in negotiating tries to gain an advantage by the end of the process”. Do any of these descriptions fit your day to day activities? Or more fittingly perhaps, do you realize that on a regular basis it is tough to get what you want? Whether it be more money for the tax department to automate or add staff, to negotiate a tax position, or to argue for greater pay, bonus or benefits? Perhaps to negotiate different tactics to reduce ETR, increase tax savings or free up cash flow?
read moreCorporate Tax Pros: Who Says You Can’t Have a Little Fun During Tax Season?
Posted by Traci Wheeler on Feb 2, 2012 in Empowerment Series, February, Motivation, Tax | 2 comments
We’re a month into tax season, which means long hours, overwhelming amounts of work, and very little fun for corporate tax professionals. I agree there is no getting around it during tax season, but tax professionals have a tendency to burn the midnight oil for extended periods of time. While this is an admirable quality (and one most employers love), it can be to a detriment to you, and, ultimately to your team, your work quality and your organization.
Even during busy times, we all need to blow off some steam and have a little fun.
read moreAttitude is Everything…Especially During Tax Season
Posted by Traci Wheeler on Feb 1, 2012 in Empowerment Series, January, Motivation, Tax | 6 comments
Last summer, my oldest son, Garrett, joined a U9 Academy soccer team to work on his skills and start transitioning toward more competitive play. Needless to say, we have spent countless hours at the soccer field for practice and traveled every Saturday to compete against local teams in our area. One of the things that has shocked me throughout this experience is the bad attitude of some of the kids on opposing teams and even more shockingly, some of the parents. Regardless of how my son plays or whether his team wins or loses, my husband and I have always tried to impress upon him the importance of a good attitude. In fact, we have gone so far as to tell him if he doesn’t exhibit a positive attitude and good sportsmanship, we will personally walk out on the field and take him off.
read more5 Tips to Shorten Meeting Time!
Posted by Kelley Lear on Jan 18, 2012 in Empowerment Series, Leadership, Motivation, Process Improvement | 2 comments
For all you business professionals out there, how many times have you sat in the meeting thinking one or more of the following:
1. Who called this meeting?
2. What is this the purpose of this meeting?
3. Are we going to accomplish something in this meeting or are we here to hear Joe/Sally talk on in tangents with no apparent end?
4. Who is in charge of this craziness?
5. I want to stick a pen in my eye just so that I can have an excuse to escape this meeting!
Which Tax Departments Want an Alternative to the New Year’s Resolution?
Posted by Traci Wheeler on Jan 11, 2012 in January, Motivation, Process Improvement, Tax | 0 comments
So, the New Year has come and passed. As has been the case for the last several years, I felt uninspired to come up with any New Year’s resolutions. It is not because I am lazy. And, it is certainly not because there isn’t a long laundry list of things I can do to improve my personal life, my career or my contribution to society.
I haven’t always been like this. I used to make resolutions, like “I’m going to exercise for an hour every day”, or “I’m going to ignore my e-mail for two hours every day, so I can be more productive”. These sound good, right? The problem is they felt like they lasted a lifetime.
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