By 2024, professionals fifty-five years old and older will represent 25% of the United States workforce, with the fastest annual growth rates among those over sixty-five. A majority of these baby boomers want to continue to work long after sixty-five. Through TaxConnections retained executive search services division, we often speak to tax executives in their late fifties and early sixties who are doing an outstanding job for their organizations and love the work they do. In fact, I know of many extraordinarily talented tax executives over seventy-five who are doing an incredible job mitigating risk for organizations. A tax executive over seventy-seven recently shared with me that his CEO called him into the office recently and as he entered the room he was worried about being terminated. Instead the tax executive was given a big raise along with a bonus and appreciation for his work. Encounters like this do happen in organizations today. They happen in organizations with executives who value and respect what years of experience brings.

In many cultures where age is valued and respected, it has been brought up through many generations. In Greece, Japan, China, India and Korea being older is honored and celebrated. In the early days of Rome, elders were considered a precious resource. Native American tribes respect elders for their wisdom and life experiences. These values have been ingrained in their lives for thousands of years. Professionals with years of experience provide an important perspective to an organization unmatched by younger generations rising in their wake. According to Peter Cappelli, Management Professor at the Wharton School of Business and Co-Author of the book Managing The Older Worker when it comes to actual job performance, Cappelli says, older employees soundly thrash their younger colleagues. “Every aspect of job performance gets better as we age,” he declares. “I thought the picture might be more mixed, but it isn’t. The juxtaposition between the superior performance of older workers and the discrimination against them in the workplace just really makes no sense.”

There is a huge gap in the availability of technically trained tax professionals worldwide. Companies hiring tax executives in lead roles must understand running a tax organization today is no easy task. In fact, leading a tax organization it is harder and more complicated than it has ever been in previous years. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act literally turned the corporate tax function upside down in tax complexity. The tax rules have all changes in local, state, and country jurisdictions. In the United States alone, many of the state tax sites have yet to be updated; and the same for the information available on the IRS site. Many corporate tax executives are privately sharing the complexity brought on by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the unknowing. The demands on tax executives after tax reform are extraordinary, in fact, tax is harder than ever before. As a result, the risks to a corporate tax organization are higher today than they were even a year ago. Organizations will need the most experienced and brightest tax executives they can find to do this work. These will be the older and more experiences tax executives that will mitigate risks, keep companies out of trouble, and save companies millions annually. With all the changes in the tax laws, companies need every ounce of tax experience and wisdom they can find to run their tax organization.

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