More and more companies are revamping and rationalizing their tax IT infrastructure with an eye to getting more value out of their ERP and business performance management (BPM) systems by “tax sensitizing” them. I asked Christopher Iervolino to explain some of the nuts-and-bolts challenges in these projects. Iervolino is senior managing director at Itec Inc., a financial software consulting firm. more

Reinforcing a trend that was seen in last year’s HSBC U.S. Survey on International Business, which I wrote about here, the most recent HSBC International Business Survey of 650 senior finance execs found that many see growth opportunities in foreign markets. In fact, nearly three-quarters of respondents increased their overseas sales targets; that’s up from 56 percent a year ago. More than half said that their overseas business was growing faster than their domestic operations.

While Canada and the U.K. were mentioned most frequently as the top markets for cross-border transactions, execs saw greater long-term opportunity in China, with 45 percent of respondents saying that it had the greatest growth potential. India came in second, with 27 percent of the vote. “The creation of huge middle classes” in these countries has caught execs’ attention, says Christopher Davies, senior executive vice president and head of commercial banking with HSBC. more

This will only throw fuel on the already fiery discussion of the United States’ global tax competitiveness: A report just released by the European Commission reveals that the sharp decline in corporate income tax rates in the European Union’s member states, ongoing for the past 15 years, is showing no sign of slowing. Despite the global financial crisis, five states have reduced their statutory rates this year, and none have increased them. Even Greece managed to trim its top rate, from 25 percent to 24 percent. more

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