Finding a Director of Tax with a Background in Business Development for a National Consulting Firm

The Client

National Regional Consulting Firm

A national professional consulting firm providing internal audit, compliance, accounting, and tax services lost their Capital Regional Director of Tax. They were looking to quickly hire someone to backfill this critical position.

The Support

  • CPA
  • Big 4 Public Accounting
  • Federal Tax
  • State and Local Tax
  • Property Tax
  • Income Tax
  • Tax Accounting
  • International Tax
  • Compliance (Global)
  • Cost Segregation
  • M&A
  • SOX

The Challenge

The firm required a replacement Tax Director with these qualifications

  • CPA/MS Tax
  • Big 4 Public Accounting
  • 10 years applicable experience in tax including Federal Tax, Compliance and Consulting, Cost Segregation, R&D, M&A, State & Local Tax, Property Tax, Sales & Use, Income Tax, Tax Accounting, FAS 109/FIN 48, International Tax, Transfer Pricing, Global Compliance. VAT Tax Services
  • SOX and multi-national corporate taxation

The combination of the required skills and the client’s compensation constraints made for a recruiting challenge. In addition, the candidate would be required to accompany the Business Development Manager on client calls, as well as serve as the Tax Subject Matter Expert for all tax, accounting, audit and SOX compliance services. Very few tax executives have strong business development skills and are experienced in sales calls. In addition, the salary was slightly below market.

The Solution

This firm approached Mary Ann McClayton (currently a Resource Manager at The Squires Group) to fill this critical position. Mary Ann had developed an extensive network of senior accounting and finance executives. She reached out to a potential candidate with experience in every aspect of the technical requirements. Based on her prior conversations with the candidate, she knew he had taken part in company expansion and possessed the Business Development skills that are uncommon in this field. When contacted, he was content in his current role, but interested in exploring the new opportunity.

The Success

After multiple interviews and negotiations, the client was able to hire the individual with a compensation package that was both enticing to the candidate and mindful of internal equity. The candidate started as the Director of Tax Operations for the Capital Region and was quickly promoted to Director of State and Local Tax (SALT), where he proceeded to build a national practice. Just recently promoted again, he is currently National Tax Director, Strategic Accounts and continues to successfully grow business with national accounts.


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