Felix Advisory Private Limited

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the financial controller of a global children’s publishing company. We’re one of the leading children’s publishers in India, and we’ve had a presence here for the last 20 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Felix Advisory Private Limited?

The goods and services tax (GST) was launched in India about two and a half years ago, so I brought in Felix Advisory to provide us with GST consulting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Felix Advisory helps us with direct and indirect tax advisory. They also provide us with various kinds of advisory and business consulting services. Whenever we want to get into a new business model, they evaluate it for us and help us understand the impacts of it, telling us if it is a viable solution for us from a tax perspective.

Whenever we get into a new venture, we share the business’ flow chart with them, and they explain the role of taxation on that specific venture. Last year, we were also evaluating some merger exercises, and they helped us to find out whether these mergers would make sense to our business or not.

What is the team composition?

We work with six key resources from Felix Advisory, including partners, a manager, and a director.

How did you come to work with Felix Advisory Private Limited?

I had worked with Felix Advisory’s founding partner a few years ago, and I knew that he was a trustworthy resource. When the opportunity came up, I reached out to him. I’ve found them competent enough to help me out with direct and indirect tax advisory; they’ve proven themselves.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around $11,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September 2018, and it is still an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

When the benefits of having a consultant make up for their cost, it is a win-win situation for both parties. When we started working with Felix Advisory on the GST evaluation, we evaluated 2–3 business models; that made up for the cost that I invested with them.

Felix Advisory’s team always tries to compensate their cost so that the consultancy works, and the benefit is either in the short term or the long term. They've helped us evaluate critical areas, and the results of their work have been reflected in our profit and loss (P&L) statements.

Tax advisory has very defined criteria for everything, and Felix Advisory has always delivered. I know their senior-level management, and I know exactly what their competencies are. Overall, they’ve been able to deliver great results in a short period of time.

How did Felix Advisory Private Limited perform from a project management standpoint?

A consultancy can’t survive if they don’t deliver on time; timeliness is the first quality that any consultancy needs to be known and credible in the market. Felix Advisory always meets the deadlines. And they never take any longer than 3–4 months to complete a short-term project.

In terms of project management, their first-level partners usually get involved initially, and they then introduce the team that’s going to work on the project. In the last couple of years, I have gotten to know a fair amount of Felix Advisory team members. I have direct contact with them, and they're very flexible.

Even if a particular team member isn’t working directly on a specific project, I can reach out to them if I need something, and they respond. If they don’t know the answer, they speak to other teammates and get back to me. We mostly use phone calls to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Felix Advisory’s most impressive quality is the ownership they take. I don’t have to chase them; once we agree on the timeline, they come back to me on time. They always keep us in the loop about the project and the next steps.

Additionally, they answer queries on time and reach out to us if they face issues. Most of the time, we get deliverables on time or before the timeline. If I had to rate them, I would give them a 10/10 in that area.

Felix Advisory is a team of very young professionals. The average age of their team members is less than 45 years old. They’re a young but experienced team, and their track record is very good.

They’re also growing well. They have a very good background in India, and their partners have a strong presence in various professional fields like GST, advisory, mergers, and acquisitions. They’re expanding very fast, and they have a presence outside of India as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Felix Advisory has experienced people on their team, but they also have people who are still learning. However, they match those qualities with a low-cost structure. Additionally, I haven’t faced any challenges working with them; the relationship has been good.