• New auditors can be trained in six months instead of almost five years through centralized, automated internal processes

• The Fiscal Audit Department received first place nationally (2021 TGS) for effectiveness, efficiency and compliance of tax regulations

• Complete audits 35% to 40% faster

For most people, "complicated, time-consuming, and error-prone" are just a few words that come to mind when talking about filing their taxes. Most Mexican citizens have only experienced this from the side of the submitter, yet those performing the audits face even greater levels of complexity.

A single audit requires the submission of around 150 official forms and documents. Certain pieces of information such as names, addresses, taxpayer ID, income and expense figures need to be entered across multiple forms.

The State of Guanajuato’s auditors were spending too much of their time inputting repetitive information, instead of using their specialized tax knowledge. "We needed to give everyone tools that were fast, consistent, and easy to use, so they could spend more time thinking like tax experts," says Dr. Carlos Alberto Martínez Tenorio, General Director of the Fiscal Audit of the Ministry of Finance, Investment and Administration, State of Guanajuato.

At the beginning of 2020, the General Director and his team of tax professionals began the year-long process of standardizing, automating, and connecting approximately 200 tax documents and forms using Google Sheets and Google Docs. Now that the forms are interlinked, data entered into one document is instantly replicated everywhere else it’s required. Additional centralized documents now store fiscal information that can change from year to year, so any changes can be applied centrally and then automatically reflected across every other form.

The design and automation process took approximately one year. Next, small groups were invited to do a trial run and learn how to use the new system for audits while Dr. Tenorio’s team of experts checked that the automated processes were providing the correct results. At the beginning of 2022, the tools were rolled out for live use across four offices for almost 300 active users.

Freeing Guanajuato’s auditors and accountants from these repetitive, manual tasks means their time at work can now be spent using their financial skills. "With Google Workspace, our standard forms do the work and we can focus on analyzing the financial data," says Dr. Tenorio. "We can complete audits 35% to 40% faster and have been able to raise six times as much revenue in some tax categories than in previous years." Completing audits faster and more efficiently has allowed the Fiscal Audit Department to greatly increase its total audit capacity without expanding its budget or its team numbers.

Automating these internal processes has had ripple effects on the rest of the organization. Whereas previously much of this knowledge was siloed within teams or with individual auditors, having a centralized system means that the knowledge is shared, allowing new auditors to be trained much faster. "What used to take a person five years to learn, now takes just six months," says Dr. Tenorio.

Dr. Tenorio and his team were able to implement the automation with Google Workspace tools, without needing to invest in new hardware or software systems. "All the work is theirs. We gave them very little advice," Rodrigo Duran Chagoya, Director of IT, State of Guanajuato explains. "Dr. Tenorio’s work saved us more or less a year of time that our Department can spend on other priorities."

The State of Guanajuato’s Fiscal Audit Department also performs better when it is assessed by its own regulators. In 2021, Guanajuato achieved first place nationally in the Global Evaluation Board (TGS), an index where the federal Mexican authorities measure how effectively, efficiently, and compliantly each state performs on the fiscal audit function. With a score of 99.7 out of 100, Guanajuato achieved an almost-perfect mark. This has helped increase public trust in the state, reassuring citizens that funds are being collected and used transparently.

What’s next for the State of Guanajuato? The Fiscal Audit Department will continue improving its new tools, especially automating the standardization process of tax documents and forms which currently takes place manually. Further ahead, these systems could be shared with other states nationally. For Dr. Tenorio, the technological tools are only one piece of the puzzle. He wants his teams to keep using innovation and automation when solving problems.

"We’ve been able to achieve goals with Google Workspace that we could not have achieved otherwise," says Dr. Tenorio. "But technology just establishes the opportunity. What’s most important is the drive to innovate and improve."