Example engagement scenarios

Note: As we are currently preparing to open, these are not actual client engagements but example scenarios illustrating the type of work we are best suited for. We hope they help you picture how we could support your business.

CASE 01 | US SaaS company’s Japanese subsidiary — building tax and accounting from zero

Scenario: A US-headquartered SaaS company establishes a Japanese subsidiary to develop the local market. The only person in Japan is a country manager focused on sales; there is no accounting or tax staff. The CFO at the head office wants to understand, in English, what needs to be filed in Japan and by when.

How we would help:

Handle the post-incorporation tax registrations (corporate establishment notification, blue-form return application, salary-paying office notification, etc.) with deadline management
Implement freee and set up bookkeeping and expense workflows
Share monthly reports directly with the head-office CFO in English
Cover the annual corporate and consumption tax filings end-to-end

Point: By designing a workflow that runs without in-house accounting staff from day one, you get through the launch phase without hiring costs.

CASE 02 | European manufacturer’s Japanese entity — from person-dependent accounting to a system

Scenario: The Japanese entity of a European manufacturer (about 20 employees). The long-serving accountant is leaving, the work is heavily person-dependent, and recruiting a successor is proving difficult.

How we would help:

Map and document the current accounting processes
Migrate to freee and redesign approval flows and document management in the cloud
Provide ongoing bookkeeping, monthly trial balances, and monthly review meetings
Support monthly reporting to the head office in English

Point: Replacing a person with a system — rather than searching for a new hire — makes the accounting function resilient to turnover.

CASE 03 | Referral from a CPA — taking on the “tax-only” portion

Scenario: A CPA affiliated with an audit firm refers the tax advisory work for an audit client, a foreign-owned Japanese entity. Audit and tax need to be separated for independence reasons, but an English-speaking tax accountant is hard to find.

How we would help:

Take on tax advisory and filings only, with no involvement in the audit
Coordinate among the CPA, the head office, and our firm
Answer head-office tax questions with English memos

Point: Acting as the receiving desk for “tax-only” work enables clean division of roles and mutual referrals between professionals. See For partners.

For the full roadmap of post-incorporation tax registrations and filings, see our Japan Tax Guide for Foreign-Owned Subsidiaries.