Cost reduction was also required for the accounting system
With multiple overseas offices, Taichi Holdings aimed to implement an accounting system capable of integrating financial information across its global entities.Although the Japan headquarters had already adopted an accounting package with consolidated accounting functions and support for various foreign currency transactions, the high operational costs posed a significant challenge.
“It cost several million yen to handle software version upgrades every three to five years. In addition, we had ongoing expenses for operating on-premise servers, hardware replacements, and maintenance contracts with IT vendors. On average, the total monthly cost came to around 250,000 yen,” explains Mr. Shimizu.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to intensify challenges in the global business landscape, the company began reviewing how to better allocate its management resources, while continuing to pursue business expansion and increase corporate value. As part of this review, reducing the cost of maintaining the accounting system became a growing priority.
The company began gathering information for a system renewal and narrowed down its options based on keywords such as “trading company,” “global system,” “foreign currency management,” and “multilingual support.” Among the shortlisted candidates, the solution ultimately selected was GLASIAOUS.
“GLASIAOUS was the only system that met all of our key requirements,” says Mr. Shimizu. “Its strong track record in overseas markets—including Mexico—was another major factor, and we concluded it was the optimal accounting system for our company.”
Operational Costs Reduced from ¥250,000 to ¥50,000 per Month
Taichi Holdings officially decided to adopt GLASIAOUS in September 2021. The company began the migration from its previous accounting system in November of the same year and completed the transition within a relatively short period of two to three months. After a pilot run, full-scale operation began with the start of the new fiscal year in April 2022.
“Since we had only been using the basic financial accounting functions of the previous system, the migration proceeded relatively smoothly,” recalls Mr. Shimizu. “As long as we properly defined the basics—such as account codes, locations, departments, currencies for management, and how to handle past data stored in the previous system—we encountered no technical issues during the transition to GLASIAOUS.”
As of September 2023, nearly a year and a half after going live, several positive changes have taken place in the company’s accounting operations. One of the most significant is the cost reduction, which was a key objective of the system migration.
“We’ve eliminated the need for software updates, server costs, hardware replacements, and maintenance contracts. As a result, we’ve reduced our monthly average cost from around ¥250,000 to just ¥50,000—one-fifth of the previous amount,” emphasizes Mr. Shimizu.
Another benefit is improved operational efficiency. Mr. Yasuhiko Akiyama, Manager of the Accounting Section, adds:
“We really appreciate how well GLASIAOUS integrates with Excel. We create journal entries in Excel, and it’s very convenient that we can copy and paste them directly into GLASIAOUS. Likewise, we can export aggregated data from GLASIAOUS to Excel to easily create management accounting reports.”
Since GLASIAOUS is a cloud-based service, it also enables access from any location.
“This has made it easier to accommodate employees who prefer to work from home, and has helped promote flexible remote work arrangements within the accounting department,” says Mr. Shimizu.
With a view to standardizing the accounting system globally
Each of Taichi Holdings’ overseas subsidiaries currently uses an accounting system tailored to its respective region. However, under a globally standardized accounting manual, procedures such as account coding and closing processes are unified, enabling the company to handle consolidated financial statements and cash flow management on a monthly basis.
That said, the current setup is not considered the final form. The company ultimately envisions unifying the accounting systems across all overseas subsidiaries.
“In practice, our current framework works without major issues—from financial accounting to management accounting. However, the reality is that the systems at each overseas subsidiary are essentially black boxes, and communication with the head office still relies heavily on local managers,” says Mr. Shimizu. “To establish stricter governance from headquarters, it is ideal to have a unified accounting system across the entire global organization.”
With the success of GLASIAOUS at the Japan headquarters, the company is looking ahead toward realizing this vision.
