The Board of Directors is charged with managing the company on behalf of its shareholders, with strong governance and a high degree of transparency.
Sarbanes-Oxley and CLERP 9 impose onerous measures on the Board to implement and certify adequate internal controls over the financial reporting systems and processes. In particular, tax compliance and reporting systems have traditionally been manually intensive and reactive, and were highlighted as the area of highest internal control weaknesses in the first year of audit reports under Sarbanes-Oxley.
In order to discharge their duties, executive managers need timely and accurate financial information to support and deliver strategic plans and make critical business decisions. Reliable and current tax data is an essential ingredient in this process.