I’m responsible for managing all L’Oréal’s UK and Ireland tax affairs. My role involves working as a business partner across all other functions, ensuring full tax compliance and monitoring, implementing and internally communicating tax legislative changes.
Can you share a practical tip on how to handle tax in industry?
In my view, it is crucial to be a true business partner – it isn’t just about partnering with finance teams but also the supply chain, marketing, legal, communications, treasury, corporate finance, etc. It is the best way to find out about the business so that tax can be involved at the start of any key business decisions.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
My two biggest pieces of advice for my younger self would be to believe in yourself and go for it. I wish I’d worried less about what people might think of me; it’s important to be yourself and be proud of who you are, don’t try to change yourself in the pursuit of trying to please others or to be like them. It’s okay to be different as that’s how you will truly shine and this will set you apart from others.
How did you end up in tax?
By accident! I actually wanted to do medicine when I was at school. However, instead I ended up doing a degree in economics and accounting. I know the two are very different but maths and science were always my favourite subjects. For me, it was a choice between a career in medicine or something numbers related. After university, I started my career with a small accountancy firm, where I predominately focused on audit and accountancy. I also got a taste of tax, and it made me realise just how much I enjoyed working on tax matters. My first role in tax was with Rawlinson & Hunter as a business tax consultant, which I absolutely loved. That was the start of my tax career.
What’s your view on the outsourcing of tax work?
There are a number of considerations that should be taken into account for any business. The level of outsourcing will depend on the following factors:
the size of the tax team (for example, if it is small then it would be advantageous to outsource compliance);
how much expertise there is in-house (though remember that there is a lot more detailed knowledge about the business in-house, which is an advantage);
whether the people in your team are specialists or generalists. If they are generalists, a second opinion on complicated technical matters may be useful;
the cost of insourcing versus outsourcing;
the lower real costs of using internal resources for large ongoing contracts (as there are no third party margins); and
the opportunity to invest in internal capability.
Remember too that using in-house teams results in closer collaboration with other functions like legal, IT, supply chain and marketing, which are increasingly entwined in every aspect of the business.
I expect there will be more companies setting up a tax function for the first time and introducing a tax director or head of tax role rather than fully outsourcing the tax function. At the same time, I expect such business will still rely on their external advisers especially in areas of tax technology.
As a final point, the relationships with external advisers must complement the skills and experience of the in-house team.
And finally, you might not know this about me but…
At heart I’m real Bollywood movie fan and always have been since a young age. I also like to dabble in some gastro molecular cooking!
I’m responsible for managing all L’Oréal’s UK and Ireland tax affairs. My role involves working as a business partner across all other functions, ensuring full tax compliance and monitoring, implementing and internally communicating tax legislative changes.
Can you share a practical tip on how to handle tax in industry?
In my view, it is crucial to be a true business partner – it isn’t just about partnering with finance teams but also the supply chain, marketing, legal, communications, treasury, corporate finance, etc. It is the best way to find out about the business so that tax can be involved at the start of any key business decisions.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
My two biggest pieces of advice for my younger self would be to believe in yourself and go for it. I wish I’d worried less about what people might think of me; it’s important to be yourself and be proud of who you are, don’t try to change yourself in the pursuit of trying to please others or to be like them. It’s okay to be different as that’s how you will truly shine and this will set you apart from others.
How did you end up in tax?
By accident! I actually wanted to do medicine when I was at school. However, instead I ended up doing a degree in economics and accounting. I know the two are very different but maths and science were always my favourite subjects. For me, it was a choice between a career in medicine or something numbers related. After university, I started my career with a small accountancy firm, where I predominately focused on audit and accountancy. I also got a taste of tax, and it made me realise just how much I enjoyed working on tax matters. My first role in tax was with Rawlinson & Hunter as a business tax consultant, which I absolutely loved. That was the start of my tax career.
What’s your view on the outsourcing of tax work?
There are a number of considerations that should be taken into account for any business. The level of outsourcing will depend on the following factors:
the size of the tax team (for example, if it is small then it would be advantageous to outsource compliance);
how much expertise there is in-house (though remember that there is a lot more detailed knowledge about the business in-house, which is an advantage);
whether the people in your team are specialists or generalists. If they are generalists, a second opinion on complicated technical matters may be useful;
the cost of insourcing versus outsourcing;
the lower real costs of using internal resources for large ongoing contracts (as there are no third party margins); and
the opportunity to invest in internal capability.
Remember too that using in-house teams results in closer collaboration with other functions like legal, IT, supply chain and marketing, which are increasingly entwined in every aspect of the business.
I expect there will be more companies setting up a tax function for the first time and introducing a tax director or head of tax role rather than fully outsourcing the tax function. At the same time, I expect such business will still rely on their external advisers especially in areas of tax technology.
As a final point, the relationships with external advisers must complement the skills and experience of the in-house team.
And finally, you might not know this about me but…
At heart I’m real Bollywood movie fan and always have been since a young age. I also like to dabble in some gastro molecular cooking!
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