Working in tax is super tiring

When I started my tax career 2 decades ago in the BIG4, I thought it was normal to stay until 8pm in the office. I also thought it was normal to continue work on a Saturday.

Moving in-house gave me a bit of a breather. But still, the workload was high, in particular during compliance busy season or when strategic projects were in full swing.

While being in-house an additional type of stress popped up. I was required to call the shots and take position, whether in business support, during controversy management, or while managing compliance. Frequently I would wake up in the middle of the night, thinking “sh*t I forgot to …”.

We are all frequently on days filled with back-to-back meetings, having barely time to take a coffee or have lunch. Let alone that there is time to do the actual work.

The more I matured in my in-house roles, the more efficient I became. Don’t get me wrong, it was often still an uphill battle. Here are some of the hacks I implemented that helped me to get more out of my day:

– “No meeting blocks”: still doing it in my current role, works very well. Obviously there should be a culture in your organization that supports it;

– Delegate and prioritize: obvious, but many tax people still struggle with both;

– Think ahead, be proactive: try to get out of the firefighting every now and then, and work on the transformation of your function, process excellence, or long-term strategic stuff;

– Focus on what you can control;

– Build very solid relationships with your stakeholders, it will pay off. Tax is a people business. Visit local teams (yes, it comes with red-eye flights), have those lunches, seize the watercooler convos;

– Invest in communication and context. It may feel burdensome at the outset, but it will drive results down the road;

– Sharpen the saw (dixit Stephen Covey). I would commit to myself to invest in a healthy body and mind. Guess what, a lot of my mental breakthroughs and creativity came during my early morning runs or while being behind my drums…

– Learn to say “no”. Very hard, but worth giving it a try…