Process Improvement - Richard's Take

The indirect tax objective is to make sure that VAT processes and controls operate as effectively and efficiently as possible.

That means determining whether the current processes operate satisfactorily as is or need to be improved, factoring in any potential or existing differences and taking into account the complexity of the existing processes and the variations between these processes in each of the business units to be supported.

In order to allocate resources to risk and reward areas that matter, the maximum level of risk appetite of the company in the worst case scenario need to be determined. This facilitates that resources do not spend time on further reducing risks that are already at an acceptable level.

I normally start with the top 5 indirect risk areas of a company and use my Golden VAT Standard to make a GAP and root cause analysis. I can identify via that approach the lowest performing indirect tax processes with the highest direct impact on business objectives.

Via Statistical Sampling, Data Analysis, ERP review or even a partial observation 'actual performance' can be measured.

What was your method, approach and tools that you used for Process Improvement?