text: **A Centralized, Globalized**
  **Treasury Function**
  
  “Treasury was decentralized in the past, with various 
  
  offices around the world dealing directly with their 
  
  respective local banks. Four years ago, however, 
  
  we decided it would be more consistent and efficient 
  
  to centralize the function in Tokyo as a Global 
  
  Treasury Center. 
  
  During the NISSAN Value-Up period, my major 
  
  responsibilities are global tax optimization, risk 
  
  management and quality improvement of the balance 
  
  sheet. Global tax optimization is a major challenge 
  
  because our taxable income has been rising. We used 
  
  to be reactive to tax policies, but we’ve realized that 
  
  we need to be more proactive, since tax is one of the 
  
  biggest cash-out items. Tax planning is of no small 
  
  concern; cash paid for taxes was approximately ¥200 
  
  billion in fiscal 2004, which made our effective tax rate 
  
  33 percent. This amount is substantial compared to 
  
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  our capital and R&D expenditures of ¥480 billion and 
  
  ¥400 billion, respectively, for the same period. We will 
  
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  always comply with tax law, of course, but the strategy 
  
  is to set up a long-term plan to reduce the effective 
  
  tax rate. For example, we can take advantage of an 
  
  R&D tax incentive that was recently introduced in 