Tsinghua Certified Public Accountants (Milan)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of a platform where parents can find the best courses for their kids, from 6–18 years old.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tsinghua Certified Public Accountants (Milan)?

We needed an external financial department to handle everything from setting up the company, to tax consultation and accounting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tsinghua helped us with everything from setting up the company to doing accounting every month, taxes, and everything else. They’re our first accounting company. Our company started in 2019.

What is the team composition?

Whenever we have a problem, we have a representative from Tsinghua that we go to. There’s a group of accountants in the background that do the actual work.

How did you come to work with Tsinghua Certified Public Accountants (Milan)?

We got a recommendation from a friend.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost is around €3,000 (approximately $3,300 USD) per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the collaboration in May 2019, and our work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

It’s mandatory for every organization or corporation in Italy to use certified accountants. We could also do it by ourselves, but there are regulations and processes for submitting and reporting tax and income. Usually, everyone will just find a firm to do it.

 If we don’t reach out to Tsinghua, they never talk with us. Even if something comes up, like needing to pay a tax or to solve something, sometimes they don’t even tell us. Maybe they manage too many clients. I don’t know what their management process is like, but there’s a noticeable lag.

How was project management handled?

Location is not that important, because we don’t need to go there every single day. Usually, we just meet them when we have a problem or a question, and everything can be solved through a phone call. Our taxes need to be paid once a year, so we don’t necessarily need to go there physically.

The important thing is for them to be more informative and faster in doing everything. There are things we weren’t informed about, and we don’t have the energy to keep up with news about tax. It’s their job, and they should tell us about it.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No, Not really. They just do the accounting part. Their studio is really nice, and so are the people, but how they work isn’t satisfying enough.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They could be more proactive or ahead of time a little bit. The accounting laws in Italy changes all the time. They should keep us informed about new regulations. They’ve only done this at the last minute when we needed to pay for everything or needed to take action. They were really in a hurry with everything.