When it comes to generating data for outsourced tax functions, like reverse audits or tax accrual calculations, there are a few best practices you should follow to ensure accuracy, efficiency and affordability. 

One of the most critical steps to having good data is to choose the correct file format that works for your company. A delimited text file is the purest form of data for file sharing, but there are some important things to know about generating these files.

• Try to select a column delimiter that does not reside within your data
• Ask your IT department to add a database function to your report that will replace the special characters with a space or dash
• Properly open it with Microsoft Excel and verify if any of your columns or rows have shifted.
• Format ALL your columns as Text, even your numeric, currency, and date/time data. This will ensure your data remains formatted the way you intended it to be formatted.

To hear about these tips more in-depth and other ways you can improve your data, watch the video below.