Decision Support Manager, Tax Services at Diageo

About the Role

Reports To: Finance Director

The Decision support manager-Tax services is a senior business partner to commercial, Supply Chain, back office services and a liaison officer with the revenue authorities and other stakeholders. This position is a core member of Kenya Finance leadership team.

This role is required to interact with and manage inputs and outputs of numerous people across a matrix organization within EABL group and Diageo as well as maximize tax efficiency and effectiveness in the following areas: manufacturing, agribusiness, centralised Centres of Excellence (Tax, Plan, Source, Move) and centralised Shared Service Centres.

Market Complexity

There are three manufacturing sites in Kenya; Tusker, Kisumu and UDV with over six million EUs production capacity and a vibrant agribusiness arm East Africa Maltings Ltd with over 40,000 contracted farmers for cereals. There are over 100 brands and SKU’s for beer, ANADS, spirits across all categories with multiplexities of tax rules and legislation. Tusker is also the single largest manufacturing site in Diageo.

Purpose of Role

• To partner with Kenya breweries Ltd executive Leadership to drive business performance through end to end strategic and tactical management of all direct and indirect taxes.
• To lead tax compliance checks agenda and service delivery by shared services and centres of excellence.
• To Leverage global finance processes, COE teams, standard, systems, and data to drive efficiency and effectiveness & Identify improvement areas for tax processes through data and insights. 
• To oversee a robust governance and control environment with an effective risk management structure and to ensure that all governance, controls, and compliance requirements are in place and operating.                                                                    

Accountabilities

• Own and develop annual priorities in line with business strategy.
• Drive tax efficiency through strategic and tactical plans.
• Ensure correct internal and statutory accounting and reporting of indirect and direct taxes.
• Implement robust review structures to ensure tax compliance.
• Ensure a strong tax compliance effectiveness and culture is fully embedded across the business.
• Monthly reporting of tax compliance status, potential risks and ongoing developments to the Finance Director
• Develop strong working relationships with business partners and compliance leadership across the business to collaborate on significant tax matters affecting the operations.
• Review relevant tax filings for completeness and technical accuracy including proper disclosures.
• Active management and review of relevant tax filings, enquiries & third-party relationship management.
• Ensure all tax balance sheet accounts are reconciled and supported by COE (Centers of Excellence)/DEO (Diageo Enterprise Operations) finance team and review reconciliations for accuracy.
• Oversee tax operations in areas of compliance, cash management, tax provisioning and audits.
• Actively engage in financial reporting processes and advise on the impact of transactions.
• Review sales and legal agreements to ensure tax requirements are met.
• Actively advise management on the tax position and related developments
• Ensure indirect and direct tax compliance with all reporting and payment deadlines with all local tax authorities (including ensuring timely refund of tax debt owed by tax authorities)
• Manage proactively all audits by tax authorities across all taxes.
• Review the Group transfer pricing policy and develop it as required to meet local and global tax authority standards.
• Ensure transactions are correctly documented on an arms-length basis consistent with tax requirements imposed by revenue authorities.
• Manage and mitigate proactively all Market Tax risks
• Provide internal tax advisory services and support on business operation matters
• Lead and coordinate ad-hoc tax-driven business initiatives locally or regionally.
• Develop and manage SLA’s with tax service providers i.e., shared services and Centres of excellence
• Recognize, anticipate, and resolve tax issues and make recommendations.

Leadership Responsibilities

Win through Execution

• Lead bold execution in a fast-moving world
• Act like owners of Diageo/EABL by holding self and others to account for highest standards
• Scan the environment constantly and adapt plans with pace
• Inject a restlessness to win and unlock capacity to decide and act quickly
• Demand brilliant execution to ensure we always win at the point of purchase

Inspire through Purpose

• Amplify our purpose internally and externally
• Create meaning, pride and belief for others through Diageo’s purpose
• Inspire teams to take entrepreneurial risks; encourage and recognise learning
• Build trust and respect in Diageo through open and honest relationships
• Celebrate frequently the impact of living our purpose

Shape the Future

• Create focus and ownership for shaping Diageo’s future ambition
• Enable others to imagine the future and be brave to act boldly now
• Set context and empower people to experiment and unlock opportunities
• for growth
• Demand diverse external perspectives and trends that create impetus for change
• Insist on sufficient data and insights that quickly move us to action

Invest in Talent

• Harness the full extent of Diageo’s talent and diversity
• Take bold bets on talent underpinned by rigorous assessment
• Build and coach diverse teams to unlock performance and growth
• Create an inclusive environment where everyone can be at their best
• Instill agility and resilience in our teams

Qualifications and Experience Required

• Qualified Professional Accountant- CPA(K)/ACCA/ACMA
• Business related Degree.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in finance and tax, with 5+ years in pure tax capacity, preferably in a FMCG
• Strong overall tax knowledge, specifically in East Africa,
• Experience in application of transfer pricing guidelines and regulations in a multinational environment
• Experience in managing tax audits, ruling negotiations and litigation
• Excellent business acumen and finance (including accounting and treasury) knowledge
• Experienced in managing relationships and in engaging / advocating with tax and government authorities
• Strong tax technical knowledge - direct and indirect tax
• Ability to engage with senior management and in translating tax into business terms
• Experiences working in both external tax consulting firm and in-house tax function
• Strong experience in financial modelling, analysis and business case presentation preparation
• Strategic thinking: The ability to demonstrate business acumen and think how the business/market could/should be different in the future. The ability to utilise internal and external information to understand the operating environment and implications for the business. The ability to utilise the wider business perspective to understand the impact of strategic choices and resource allocation decisions across the value chain (from supply to point of sale)
• Risk Management: The ability to identify, capture and manage risks at appropriate levels
• Process Transformation: A positive problem-solving mindset that champions the use of standard, simple, automated end to end processes, and respective controls
• Relevant experience with integrated systems such as SAP is an advantage.
• MS applications PowerPoint, Excel, Access and Word
• Strong track record of successfully managing tax departments with multiple subsidiaries across Africa
• Strong leadership and organizational skills

Diversity statement

Celebrating our inclusive and diverse culture is core to Diageo’s purpose of “celebrating life every day everywhere”. This purpose is, in itself, inclusive in nature, as it values everybody irrespective of background, disability, religion, gender or ethnicity.

We know that for our business to thrive and for Diageo to realize its ambition, we depend on having diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which we operate and to reflect our broad consumer base. We view diversity as one of the key enablers that helps our business to grow and our values, purpose and standards set the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution each person brings.