New research surveying 451 finance leaders across APAC shows how tax functions are shifting from periodic filing to continuous, strategic influence, and how quickly the window to catch up is closing.
The shift is already underway
Regulators across Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Hong Kong, Korea, China, and the UAE are moving toward near real-time assurance. Singapore’s InvoiceNow mandate, Malaysia’s phased rollout of mandatory e-invoicing, and Indonesia’s Coretax platform are changing compliance timelines this year and next. Layer in the OECD’s Pillar Two regime, which requires groups to calculate and disclose effective tax rates by jurisdiction, and the direction is clear: tax authorities want continuous, verifiable data, not a quarterly snapshot.
Most tax functions were not built for that pace. Factor’s survey of 451 finance leaders across APAC found data fragmentation, spreadsheet dependency, and manual reconciliation are the biggest obstacles to progress, ahead of budget constraints or outdated technology. Nearly half of organisations still run their finance platform as an ERP patched together with bolt-on tools and spreadsheets. Every filing cycle that passes without a connected data foundation adds risk, not just to compliance, but to cash flow visibility, audit readiness, and the tax function’s influence in the room.
80+
jurisdictions requiring real-time e-invoicing or e-reporting by 2026
14%
of finance leaders have near real-time cash flow visibility
9%
say tax and finance are fully embedded in strategic planning
What you’ll find inside
The connected tax function distills primary research from Factor, benchmarked against the OECD, CPA Australia, and the FSO, into a practical roadmap your team can act on this quarter.
- How the 2026 regulatory shift is reshaping compliance across APAC
- Why periodic filing and spreadsheet dependency are breaking down
- The five components of a connected, audit-ready tax function
- Where governed AI and automation delivery continuous assurance
- A practical readiness checklist for finance and tax leaders.
