Taxes and Business Strategy

Taxes have a direct impact on cash flow and often divert 20% to 40% of the firm's pretax cash flow to the government, making the government one of the largest stakeholders. Taxes also affect a wide variety of business decisions, including the efficient formation of businesses, operational planning across jurisdictions with competing tax regimes, M&A tax structure, the creation of cash and equity compensation plans, and retirement planning (to name a few). This course first provides a conceptual framework for incorporating taxation into business decisions, linking concepts from accounting, corporate finance, business law, and economics. The course then provides real-world examples to illustrate the impact of tax considerations on earnings and cash flows. The goal of this course is to provide a foundational understanding of tax consequences and trade-offs that can be adapted across jurisdictions and as tax laws change.