A relentless focus on operational efficiencies, top-line growth and return on investment – all these private equity priorities have now become activist investor territory in listed companies.

"We work with companies across industries on how to combat and tackle disruption, to drive transformation and to avoid becoming obsolete," says David Riviere, managing director with A&M in Atlanta.

Retail is perhaps one of the most obvious sectors at the moment where failing to keep up with a changing market is most apparent, with venerable brands falling victim to the Amazon effect.

As expected, the Senate Finance Committee released its initial tax reform proposal on Friday. Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee put out its final legislative markup (the night before).

In this report, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) provides its perspective on the transformative actions required by providers to succeed in an at-risk, value-based environment.

Here at A&M we see two important issues notably missing in the public discussion over the release of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. One issue pertains to investors and the other to tax leaders.

Today, the House Ways and Means Committee released the statutory language and detailed explanation of its long-awaited, 429-page tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This bill is the culmination of more than a year of anticipation and speculation about competing plans, from the 2016 House Blueprint, to candidate Trump’s plan, to President Trump’s April one-pager and most recently to the September Framework proposal. We are feverishly reviewing the package for our clients; watch for coming editions of Tax Advisor Weekly where we will share our planning insights.

On October 18, 2017, A&M Taxand hosted a webinar on Global Tax Transparency and Perspectives from the EU, UK and Asia. The webinar discussed the following key international tax compliance updates which are set to impact taxpayers engaged in more aggressive tax planning, as well as raise practical issues for typical planning and compliance.

Sometimes the lines between personal and company data become blurred when individuals use their work devices for personal uses and vice versa. In the event of an investigation, that data will be highly sought after.

Economic pressures, aggressive lending and evolving compliance and conduct expectations have prompted heightened regulatory scrutiny on financial institutions.

The federal research and development tax credit was finally made permanent in late 2015 under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act.

While tax leaders at some technology companies may still be spinning in the aftermath of the BEPS initiative and the European Commission’s state aid crackdown (e.g., the 13 billion Euro tax bill directed at Apple last year), recent events suggest that the real haymaker at U.S. tech companies operating in the EU may be yet to come (and possibly soon).