career in tax in 1980 when he joined Peat Marwick’s Atlanta, Georgia office until his departure in 1987 as a Senior Tax Manager. Vaughn Hooks earned a BA in Political Science from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1974; a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens, Georgia in 1977 and a Masters in Taxation from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981. Vaughn Hooks is also a member of the Georgia Bar Association and a CPA in the state of Georgia.

(KJ) How did you become a tax professional? Who were your mentors in the profession?

(VH) While attending law school at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia I had the honor of studying international law in a program built around Dean Rusk, who served as Secretary of State under former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. On the International Law Journal, I was given the responsibility to edit articles on international business and realized the importance of taxes in all cross-border transactions. As a result, I continued my studies in tax after law school and earned a Masters of Science in Taxation from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Bryan Goodwin, head of the tax department in Peat Marwick (now KPMG) in Atlanta, Georgia was a mentor and a strong role model for me. He was a great advocate for technical excellence and client service.


(KJ) What have you enjoyed most about being a tax professional?

(VH) As a tax professional, I have treasured my international business and tax experience. While at Peat Marwick, I was provided the opportunity to live in Germany and Japan to further develop my international tax experience. Another aspect of my tax career that I have enjoyed is the opportunity it has created for me to teach and develop others who are learning the profession. I love to see the “lights come on” when a less experienced tax professional grasps a tough technical concept. As a Corporate Tax Officer of a multinational corporation, I have been able to continue to foster those who are coming up in the profession.


(KJ) What are important changes you have seen in the tax profession?

(VH) At the beginning of my tax career numerous tax reforms were made that encouraged me to continue to specialize in corporate taxes. There have been so many changes that it has become impossible to be good at everything in domestic and international taxes. Now the focus is on Sarbanes Oxley compliance. This new emphasis on quality tax accounting is both invigorating and exhausting.


(KJ) What are the most important characteristics of a strong tax department?

(VH) This is an easy one – finding and most of all retaining good talent. When you get to the third, fourth and fifth year with good folks, the quality and momentum of everything – planning, compliance and audit defense – all become enormous.


(KJ) What changes do you anticipate in the industry?

(VH) The pressure for better tax accounting will continue on in the profession. The tax profession needs more strong debit and credit professionals who can understand the tax payable and keep the deferred tax reconciled. I still believe that tax departments will largely keep this responsibility because of the mixed requirements of tax technical skills and strong double-entry accounting skills. The lawyers may still lead the planning but it is the good accountants who will keep companies in SOX compliance with the SEC.


(KJ) What are the best opportunities at your company?

(VH) Consistent with the new pressures on tax accounting, we are increasing our hiring emphasis on attracting candidates with demonstrated strong accounting skills experience. Largely, as a services company with volume challenges and a large legal structure, at least for our domestic tax work, we are finding that we can take a good accountant and teach them the tax technical skills needed for our business. We are aware of the current strong demand and short supply of international tax professionals and I do see international tax as an area of great potential opportunity for those in the profession.


(KJ) What is your company's management style?

(VH) Although we are a relatively new company, over the past twenty years AON has successfully grown to be the world’s number one insurance broker with a largely decentralized and entrepreneurial management model. Reconciling this model with SOX compliance and rational global tax and treasury planning is a challenge I enjoy each day with our management team.


(KJ) What is your view of a successful tax department?

(VH) I believe that the retention of high potential tax staff is a great measure of success. We retain our very best professionals when the work is challenging and fun, adding value to the shareholders.


(KJ) How do you guide your tax department to partner successfully throughout the organization?

(VH) Certainly in every corporate role I have held, the operating professionals have incentives that are largely focused on delivering pre-tax income. Having said that, the role of a public company Chief Tax Officer, (particularly post-SOX), is a challenging mixture of “carrot and stick” - one day politely eliciting cooperation and the next day pounding on the table demanding compliance with controls. The challenge is to train my organization when to be nice and when to be tough.


(KJ) What factors will be most influential in determining what you will do next?

(VH) Throughout my tax career, I have survived restatements, SEC investigations and revolving door CEO/CFO’s corporate restructurings. I have also had the past experience of having been merged out of a job and having been fired. For those reasons, I have stopped trying to predict the curves and turns of my tax career.
As for what I will do next… sometimes I think that SOX compliance and the increasingly arcane GAAP rules will drive me to buy a doughnut franchise.

(KJ) Vaughn, thank you for the time you have taken to answer our questions. Your international tax perspective is very valuable and we appreciate the time you have taken to share your perspectives with us.

Kathleen Jennings (KJ)
Editor, The Tax Intelligence Report
Kathleen@etsearch.com

Vaughn Hooks (VH)
Vice President of Tax / CTO
Vaughn_hooks@asc.aon.com

Fruition (fr-oo-shn) n. Realization of something desired or worked for; accomplishment: labor finally coming to fruition.