In fact, former employees have followed Bill to McKesson Corporation. Bill also has an innate ability to analyze a complex tax issue and explain it in a way that even a non-Tax person could understand. We can all learn something from Bill Brennan in this month’s interview. Especially in how he strives to deliver great value to his organization and motivate his tax department with his cross-training and team development approach!
Mr. William H. Brennan is the Vice President of Taxes for McKesson Corporation in San Francisco, CA. Prior to joining McKesson Corporation as the Vice President of Taxes in 2000; Mr. Brennan spent four years with APL Limited in Oakland, CA as a Director of Taxes. Prior to that, Mr. Brennan was with General Electric in Stamford, CT where he worked as a Director of Federal Taxes. Mr. Brennan spent 1987 through 1992 working as the Director of Taxes for CNF, Inc. in Palo Alto, CA. Before that, he worked with MagneTek, Inc. for four years as the Director of Taxes in Milwaukee, WI. Mr. Brennan also worked with Deloitte & Touché for four years in San Francisco, CA. He commenced his tax career at Ernst & Young as a Tax Accountant in Milwaukee, WI in 1983. Mr. Brennan received his BS in Accounting from Marquette University and received his MST from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

KJ: What is it like to work for a 100 billion dollar company like McKesson Corporation versus a smaller corporation? BB: Certainly the numbers at McKesson Corporation are larger than smaller companies I have worked for during my career. However, the tax issues are essentially the same. I have discovered through my experience that the IRS will treat you differently if you are a bigger company than if you are a smaller company. In addition, the SEC looks at McKesson differently because we are a Fortune 15 company rather than a smaller company. The audit firms view you differently because the numbers are so much larger. The issues are similar for a smaller corporation and can be every bit as complicated as McKesson Corporation. It is the operations size that makes an organization much more visible to the tax authorities and the SEC and that is the major difference. The only other major difference besides regulatory (that being the IRS and the SEC) is mergers and acquisitions. The bigger the organization, the more M&A deals you will be evaluating. While I was at GE Capital, we looked at deals every month. We are also constantly looking at deals at McKesson. When you are working at a smaller company you may not be looking at acquisitions as frequently. KJ: Your tax team has a reputation of being content and satisfied so what is the secret to your tax department success? In fact, your people have told me that they are having fun working at McKesson.BB: The way I look at our tax team is that we do a couple of things that make us successful. First, we have senior tax people in the following key areas: M&A, Compliance, Audit and SEC Reporting. However, it is imperative that the senior tax people share their respective tax knowledge and experience with the younger, generally, less experienced team members. This enables the team as a whole to do a lot of different things and consequently, gain valuable experience. Many times tax departments operate within specific functions (i.e., “siloed”). As a result, individuals never really work with each other and get exposure to different issues. What we do here is integrate the tax department. I have benchmarked with some of the best tax departments who also share an integrated philosophy. You have to work in compliance, planning and provision and audit defense in today’s world. Integration helps develop your people into better and more complete technicians; it also helps the company because you have different sets of eyes looking at different issues in different ways. I think this is what makes it fun and interesting for everyone here. If you are doing just one thing all of the time, it’s simply not that interesting. We are looking for people who are willing to expand in a variety of different areas. You certainly learn a lot more this way! We provide guidance through our senior team members including myself to nurture this environment.
If you are willing to learn different things, then we provide the right environment. We want to attract “tax athletes” who are willing to work in a variety of different areas.
KJ: What do you tell someone who wants to be successful in the tax profession?BB: I don’t think it has changed much over the years. The reality is if you really enjoy what you are doing and you are dedicated to learning, you will surpass most in your field. When you are really passionate about what you are doing, you will distinguish yourself from most of those around you.
KJ: As the Lead Tax Executive of a large department, how do you keep up with everything?BB: You cannot be an expert on everything but you need to understand the basics. You need to stay current by reading the International, Domestic and Daily Team Reports. This is a mandatory! I encourage people to develop interests in different areas. For instance, we have people who are passionate enough to go after new issues and/or new strategies outside of normal job responsibilities. They are passionate enough to want to learn and are driven to save the company money. This would not happen if they were not given the opportunity to go for it. We will always support a sound attempt at a new strategy and if it doesn’t ultimately succeed, then no harm done because at least the individual has learned from the experience!
KJ: What is the advantage of learning in a large organization like McKesson?BB: I sincerely believe that, especially for people early in their tax career, it’s much more to their advantage to go to a larger diversified company such as ours that handles not only drug distribution but also software, manufacturing and services. You have exposure to a wide variety of businesses at McKesson. As I mentioned earlier, by working in an environment that will not pigeonhole an individual in a single functional area, you have the opportunity to learn different things which gives a person a well-rounded training in the corporate world. Also, having the very best senior tax directors to learn from leads to the best experience you can attain. If you decide that you want to work for a smaller company, you will have gained broad based experience that will be invaluable to you. For instance, when I worked at GE, I learned a tremendous amount due to the size of the company. You learn a lot by going to this level in your career early on. It’s similar to working for a Big Four firm and gaining experience there rather than a smaller firm. It’s a great training ground.(KJ): Bill, thank you for the time you have taken to answer these questions. Your perspective is very valuable to our readers. We appreciate the time you have taken to share your experience with us. Kathleen Jennings (KJ)
Editor, The Tax Intelligence Report
Kathleen@etsearch.com

If you would like an introduction to McKesson Corporation or if you would like to send a private emial to Bill, please contact Kathleen Jennings at Kathleen@etsearch.com.