The ATO and Accenture have teamed up to design and develop improvements to the agency's products and services to help make the overall tax program easier, less expensive and more personalised for taxpayers. These improvements form part of the "Easier, Cheaper, More Personalised" program—one element of a plan to bring high performance to the ATO.
The relationship between the ATO and Accenture is structured with simple and clear responsibilities and outcomes. Accenture is responsible for the total cost of the program, for delivering on defined business outcomes (not functional requirements), and for directing and managing the work to deliver the program.
Accenture has fees that are tied to the delivery of these business outcomes and the achievement of tangible benefits and savings. This approach aligns the ATO's and Accenture's objectives and provides clear accountabilities to Accenture and the program team to deliver the business outcomes.
The ATO and Accenture are developing new Revenue and Accounting, Customer Relationship Management and Case Management systems to provide easier and faster transactions with more certainty, better access to taxpayer account information, improved phone service and better correspondence products and processing.
These new systems are expected to be delivered by the end of 2008.