For Wolters Kluwer, India is the global hub of innovation 

When it comes to tapping professionals for tax and accounting to file returns for clients in the US or Europe, the €4.8 billion Dutch company, Wolters Kluwer, relies heavily on India, especially Pune and Chennai. The company that serves all big four firms - EY, Deloitte, KPMG, and PWC - provides its clients, including high net worth individuals, with critical decisions by providing solutions that combine domain knowledge with technology and services.

Globally, the company has 19,800 employees of which 6,800 are for the Tax and Accounting division that contributes nearly €1.5 billion to the group. “Nearly 1,200 employees are working for our division in India,” said Karen Abramson, CEO of the Tax & Accounting division. “India is the technology hub for the tax and accounting division, and critical for our operations,” she told businessline.

“In the tax and accounting division, we automate tax software and firm management software and corporate management software for financial professionals to close the accounting at the enterprise level,” she said. The company serves over 1 million accountants globally; 93 per cent of Fortune 500 and 84 per cent of Fortune 1,000, she added.

Given the diverse pool of engineering talent in India, the country has become a global hub of innovation for Wolter Kluwer. The products for tax and accounting for North America are developed in India, she said. “We spend 10-12 per cent of our revenue on innovation and a substantial part of this is in India,” she added.

Abramson said the company serves the people who are most important. The company focuses on professionals like doctors and lawyers. These people make the most important decisions every day, which impact common people. Lawyers draft a will or a housing contract and doctors are making decisions about health, and the risk professionals are protecting our investment. Our accountants are helping to plan for our future and keep away from the taxing authorities. “We provide software tools and services to the person who answers the moment that matters. We understand the workflow of our clients and help them take decisions in that exact minute,” she said.

A company will buy the company’s software because they need a system that helps them serve clients. Most accountants will start by buying a piece of software that helps produce tax returns for their clients or conduct an audit. The company will sell that piece of software for new customers and then provide them with an entire suite of solutions that helps them work in the entire workflow,” she said. In India, the company is doing application engineering right from concept, production, and to the final product, she added.

In India, a majority of employees are in Pune, in Chennai around 300 employees, and recently, the company opened a new service in Coimbatore and Vadodhara. Both these centres are strong in engineering, accountancy, and mathematics. “We added 200 employees in India this year, and plan to add a similar number next year,” she said.

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