Strengthening commercial understanding

Proposal 13(b) of the 2006 Review of Links with Large Business

Engagement with the private sector to develop during 2007 a comprehensive programme of joint training, seminars, secondments and mentoring to strengthen commercial understanding of (HMRC) staff.

Successful delivery proposal 13(b) provides our large business customers and their intermediaries with a real opportunity to influence the future culture and attitudes of people working within HMRC. A real appreciation of the business perspective and of the drivers and issues encountered in an ever increasing global and competitive marketplace will:

  • enhance the overall consultation process that HMRC has now committed to
  • enable HMRC to develop its guidance and training material using practical examples based on evolving commercial circumstances
  • inform HMRC’s risk assessment process resulting in more focused enquiries and the speedier resolution of issues.

The aim of this proposal is to put in place a variety of initiatives, each one designed to contribute to the development of a much deeper insight into the commercial environment in which our large business customers operate.

We want to create an environment that provides HMRC staff with opportunities to develop their commercial understanding; to hear the business perspective, to step into the shoes of our customers, to experience life in the commercial world and build an empathy with large business.

We would like to explore a number of options.

  • Joint events – a mixture of formal training, seminars and less formal events involving audiences and presenters from the private sector.
  • Mentoring or ‘buddying’ arrangements – a series of one to one relationships between HMRC staff and private sector representatives.
  • Discussion groups – involving a mixture of people from HMRC, business and the accountancy profession.
  • ‘Exposure to’ the business world – including the Week in Business initiative and longer term attachments and shadowing arrangements.
  • ‘Working in’ the private sector – a series of longer term secondments to business and the accountancy profession.

Joint training and seminars

Guest speakers from the business tax community have always made a valuable contribution to HMRC courses and seminars. These will continue but there are real advantages to events involving joint audiences.

Proposed topics:

  • General commercial and economic awareness.
  • Business analysis.
  • Business simulations.
  • Induction events.
  1. Where do you see the greatest opportunities for joint events?
  2. Do you see potential for joint seminars and other events now that LBS is organised on sector lines?
  3. Would you (or your organisation) benefit from joint events?
  4. Would you be prepared to support future events?

Mentoring and similar arrangements

The development of informal relationships between representatives from the private sector and HMRC, away from the normal day to day engagements, would help to build a real understanding of each other’s working environment, culture and drivers. Over time this element of the proposal has the potential to really change people’s attitudes.

We would welcome your help and suggestions as to how we should take this forward in practice. Options include:

  • Mentoring – individual development of an HMRC employee through relatively formal contact with and feedback from someone within the private sector and vice versa.
  • ‘Buddying’ – a structured series of regular, less formal, one to one meetings for mutual benefit and support.
  • Discussion groups – similar to the ‘buddying’ concept but in small mixed groups to discuss subjects of common interest. This could be extended to include more formal research or project delivery where appropriate.
  1. Do you see value in developing these arrangements?
  2. What do you see as the advantages or disadvantages of one over another?
  3. Is there anything we should be particularly careful of (confidentiality, conflicts of interest etc)?
  4. Would you support this initiative?

Secondments

Secondments include long term (three months to two year) formal placements as well as shorter term exposure to the business environment. Similar issues and challenges are present throughout.

  • Confidentiality.
  • Potential conflicts of interest.
  • Finding suitable work areas.
  • The relative experience of the ‘secondee’.
  • The potential costs involved.

We would welcome your views and suggestions as to how we might work together to address these issues. Thoughts so far include:

Longer term secondments provide the secondee with a much greater exposure to the business world and, possibly, a more detailed knowledge of a specific area but there may be costs involved and they can often be difficult to arrange. It can sometimes be hard to identify suitable work areas or projects.

Shorter term attachments and business tasters can provide many of the benefits of long term placements but may lack depth. Fact finding roles and shadowing opportunities can give the secondee experience of different parts of an organisation and a broad commercial understanding. They may also be easier to organise and manage and involve lower displacement costs.

The ‘Week in Business’ scheme is one example but an attachment doesn’t need to be confined to a week.

  1. What would you find valuable?
  2. Would you be prepared to actively support this element of the proposal?
  3. Would you be in a position to offer either a longer or shorter secondment opportunity at a future date?

This should be a two-way process and we would also be interested in your views on inward secondments.

  1. How would business derive the most benefit from arranging placements for private sector staff within HMRC? and
  2. How can HRMC make best use of inward secondment experience?