Just Eat Takeaway.com is a fast-growing, leading global marketplace for online food delivery. Automating Tax processes saves time, improves control and provides transparency.
The company's steep growth curve was one of the main reasons Just Eat Takeaway.com switched to an automated tax reporting process. Karolina Hart, Tax Accounting, Reporting and Control Manager at Just Eat Takeaway.com: "We are growing rapidly and have made several acquisitions in recent years. Therefore, our reporting has become more international and demanding."
Headquartered in Amsterdam and London, the company connects consumers with more than 580,000 restaurants through its platforms. Just EatTakeaway.com was founded in January 2020 by bringing together two of the world's largest food delivery companies: Takeaway.com - founded in 2000 in the Netherlands - and Just Eat - founded in 2001 in Denmark.
"We wanted one set of automated controls for all data and more transparency in Tax Reporting."
More time to audit and analyze Tax Reporting
Karolina and her team achieved several business goals by automating tax reporting processes. Karolina: "One of our main goals was to save time. We deal with tight reporting timelines. By reducing the number of manual activities and checks, we gain more time for reviewing and analyzing instead of calculating and matching the data." Other key goals were to gain more control and create transparency. "We wanted one set of automated controls for all data and more transparency in tax reporting.
OneStream enables one way of working for the entire reporting process
Just Eat Takeaway.com was already using OneStream for its consolidation processes. By adding the tax reporting process to the existing workflow, tax is fully incorporated into the reporting process. While an essential consideration, it is not the only reason for the company to move its tax processes to OneStream. "OneStream is a flexible tool. As a company, we are constantly changing and company-specific requirements can be built into the tool."
"There were several Just Eat Takeaway.com specific items we wanted to automate. It's great that the template could handle this as well."
IFRS Tax template in OneStream
The project team used the IFRS tax template to ensure smooth and fast implementation. Experts from Taxvibes and Finext, sister organizations that often work together during tax automation projects, developed this standard template for IFRS tax processes. "We created the IFRS tax template based on best practices. Many international organizations use it for their tax automation," explains Roelf Kloen, tax reporting specialist at Taxvibes. The template can be easily adapted to each company's specific requirements, such as for Just Eat Takeaway.com. "There were several specific items for Just Eat Takeaway.com that we wanted to automate. It's great that the template could handle this as well," says Karolina.
Pragmatic project approach in 3 phases
The project team used a pragmatic approach with 3 phases. Karolina is enthusiastic about the phased approach. "We had minimal time for implementation. We used the first phase to make sure the tool was live and could be used in time for the Q3 Close. We were able to use our experiences during the close for adjustments in phase 2 and nice-to-haves in phase 3. This approach allowed us to get everything done. This approach allowed us to keep everything in sync with our reporting calendar. "She is also pleased with the collaboration with Taxvibes and Finext. "Taxvibes has a lot of experience and knowledge of tax reporting, while Finext was already familiar with our OneStream setup, as they implemented the consolidation processes. Another advantage was the fact that Taxvibes understands both tax and IT. "As an architect, they made sure everyone in the meeting spoke the same language. That's a must for such an implementation."
"The future lies in being able to incorporate continuous change into our processes and systems."
Confident about future Tax Reporting requirements
Karolina sees more demand for Tax automation soon. "The tax environment is constantly changing, which is why it is such an interesting field. For example, the advent of Pillar 2, for which the calculations are very different from our current accounting calculations." She is not worried about dealing with these changes. "The future lies in being able to incorporate these changes into our processes and systems. We have experienced the flexibility of OneStream, which gives me confidence that we can easily adapt our automated processes to whatever is needed."
