Knowledge Management as a Necessity for the Digitalisation of Processes Among Tax Advisors– A Survey of German Tax Firms 2022

Abstract

Digitalisation requirements are the challenge for tax firms in the 21st century. Reserved tasks should become more automated, communications should expand to digital channels and core competences should be expanded to include more consulting. Since digitisation and the necessary technology and its application are not among the core competences of tax consultancies, the transformation of services is slow. A survey of tax firm owners shows that the digitalisation of services and processes has only been implemented to a limited extent in the firms. Furthermore, the data shows that due to the lack of digital transformation, the majority of tax consultants are unable to offer new services to clients. This is attributed to the fact that the lack of internal knowledge management does not allow the transformation to take place in a structured framework and therefore many tax consultants are still in the planning phase, even though client requirements have been tending to be offered digital options in tax advice for some time. This paper deals with the need for internal knowledge management, which forms the basis for the necessary transformation. For this purpose, the knowledge areas that are necessary for comprehensive knowledge management are presented. In addition, the model of Büren et al. provides a framework for the development of coordinated knowledge management that can be adapted by tax consultancies. For this purpose, basic requirements are presented in a self-created integrated management approach as an example in which tax firms can start a knowledge management for digitalisation.