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Tax strategy is increasingly taking a seat center stage in decision making, and in many cases, companies are seeing tax teams step up as key advisors to the C-suite, helping navigate policy change, shape strategy and drive growth, says Matthew Becker, national managing principal of tax at BDO and the firm’s next CEO, effective July 1, 2026.
“Over the next 12 months, those who proactively anticipate change and are prepared to act when the time is right will be well positioned for success,” Becker said. “This environment creates opportunities for tax leaders to guide their organizations through uncertainty while demonstrating the full potential of the value they can deliver.”
BDO shared its new tax strategist survey with CFO Journal. The survey found that while tax leaders’ influence is at an all-time high, they should act now to secure their positions as business advisors for the long-term. We asked Becker what struck him most in terms of what CFOs and C-suite leaders can take away from the survey.
“We have CFOs telling us that they're involving the tax function a lot more strategically, and then we have tax executives telling us that they're feeling that increased involvement. CFOs are struggling to manage the constantly changing impact of tax regimes and tariff regimes on their business,” he said.
“You're managing and executing against that strategy and that value chain, and then all of a sudden something changes, something legislatively changes, tariff rates increase, tariff rates decrease, being able to quickly assess what the impact of that change is on your business and then come up with a strategy for adjusting to it if adjustment is needed.”
“There's a lot of increased pressure on CFOs to deliver that, and I think they're leaning much more on the tax function to help them through those issues,” Becker said.
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