Shareholder Value

Paul Morton Head of Group Tax at Reed Elsevier Group plc sets out personal views on the contribution made by the tax function to shareholder value creation

It is surprising how often business units or head office functions define their goals and objectives according to tactical priorities rather than the true drivers of shareholder value creation. A sales unit might set itself the task of increasing sales a production unit that of increasing production rates and a tax department that of reducing the tax rate. However unless the linkage between the tactical priority and shareholder value creation has been fully thought through there is a high risk of unintended value destruction.

What...