In this episode of Controllers Classified, Erik Zhou sits down with Michael Williams, a Tax Partner at PwC, to unpack both his career path to Partnership and his firm’s POV on corporate tax strategies in 2025 and beyond.

Michael begins by sharing key milestones in his time at PWC, noting how his perspective, role, and scope shifted as he worked towards becoming a Partner at the firm. He underscores the importance of real value creation for clients and notes that if you’re in the business of service and advice, it has to be quality and actionable.

He then pivots to sharing why companies need to embed a tax perspective into their strategic planning. Erik and Michael cover upcoming changes in the tax landscape and what companies should be prepare for, underscoring that thinking about tax proactively instead of reactively isn’t just smart—it’s essential.

Michael closes with his funniest business travel story. It may involve a cat on the loose. Tune in to get all the details!

Key Quotes

“As I’ve grown my career, I continue to think about where and how can I create value?”
“It’s almost as if you are pulling a little piece of clay from each person that you work with, and ultimately you come out as a person molded by those relationships, leadership, mentors, etc.”
“There are two aspects that we’re focused on right now.. One is about the operating model and how companies handle their tax department. The second is looking at the timing of tax adjustments.”
“The word tax means so many different things to a person that works in tax. Cash tax, effective tax rate, statutory tax rate, marginal tax rate - when thinking about these different tax rates, they have different implications when looking at your financial statements.”
“You have to be within the tax code. But I think a lot of times opportunities are missed because of the fact that when you’re in an accounting mindset, everything is recognized when it's accrued and that can be different from a tax perspective.”

Time Stamps

(01:13) Overview of Michael’s career
(05:11) Journey to becoming a partner at PWC
(28:26) Tax considerations for the upcoming year
(45:30) Michael’s funniest business travel experience

Links