長野県松本市の会計事務所・経営コンサルティング

Employee Interview 

Q: You are a new employee, did you originally want to join the MACK Group? 

I did not originally want to join the MACK Group. I first learned about the MACK Group at a company information session held at Buena Vista in Matsumoto. 

　Many companies were presenting company presentations at their booths, and I remember the MACK Group’s information session being the most impressive.” I strongly felt that MACK Group’s philosophy of “no stereotypes” was close to the ideal way of life I had in mind. 

　I thought that I might be able to live my ideal way of life at MACK Group, so I talked to the recruiter at the time. During our conversation about the company and various other topics, I told him about my own job-hunting activities, and he listened to me very kindly. 

It wasn’t something I should have talked about, but the recruiter at the time was very friendly, and I ended up telling him a lot about myself. 

I thought, “I want to work with people like this,” and “the MACK Group can bring me closer to my ideal self,” so I submitted my application. 

Q: Do not have stereotypes. It is something that we can understand in our heads but cannot do. By the way, what kind of work do you normally do? 

I am in charge of bookkeeping and internal operations for our clients, and I belong to the Audit Section of the Anshin Kan Support Department, which is one of the various departments in the MACK Consultants Group, including the Anshin Kan Support Department, Legal Support Department, Sales Department, and Administration Department. 

　In the Audit Section, I am in charge of monthly auditing of clients, accounting work, tax filing, and so on. Every morning, I start my work with a meeting. 

Q: Do you have a morning meeting every morning?

Yes, we have a morning meeting, but it is not just a formal morning meeting. Of course, we confirm attendance and share information, but we also have “3-minute speeches” and study sessions. 

　In the “3-minute speech,” one person is chosen at random during the morning meeting and speaks freely in front of everyone for 3 minutes. In the study session, Mr. Maeda, the head of the Audit Department, teaches us the meanings of terms such as income tax, consumption tax, and year-end adjustment, as well as specifics such as why year-end adjustment is necessary. 

Q: Are there times when you feel that the study sessions have been useful? 

It is when the clients are happy. The other day, we learned about “tax saving” at a study session. At the study session, we learned about what tax saving is and how to do it, and when I told my clients about it, they were very impressed. 

　Because of this experience, my current goal is to pass the exam to become an Assistant Certified Public Accountant. I would like to continue to share useful information and knowledge about accounting with our clients and create opportunities for them to become more interested in accounting and taxation. 

Q: Continue to provide each customer with the necessary knowledge that fits their individual needs. That is an important idea as a professional, isn’t it? 

Yes, it is. In my case, I often apply for benefits and subsidies related to the new coronavirus on behalf of my clients, but the applications are not always successful. 

　Even so, there are times when clients say, “Regardless of whether or not my application is approved, I will pay the money, so I want you to apply for it. It’s because our clients rely on us like this that we want to learn more and help them! I want to do my best! 

Q: How did you come to join MACK Consultants Group? 

　Originally, I was a sales representative for a recruiting agency in Aichi Prefecture. In that position, I not only communicated with customers but also made quotations. 

Q: So, you were in a completely different industry from your current job? 

Yes, but it is not surprising that it has nothing to do with accounting at all. For example, in the process of making a quotation, it is necessary to consider how much sales will cover the costs and how to make a profit. 

In my case, I became interested in “company figures” through the work of making quotations. I felt that it would be difficult to continue working in the temporary staffing business, so I asked my parents for advice. 

After asking my parents for advice, they told me, “There is a local school for accounting that is still accepting students, so why don’t you try studying there?”  I decided to take the plunge, quit my previous job, and enrolled in a vocational school to study bookkeeping. 

Q: Your decision to leave the company you had been working for and re-study in a different field was a courageous move.Now that you are working in accounting at the MACK Group, I imagine that the experience from your previous job is also useful. 

I feel that I am able to utilize the sales experience from my previous job as well as the knowledge I learned at vocational school. Especially in my case, because I have many opportunities to talk directly with customers, I am often thanked, and when I am thanked, I feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. 

　For example, when a tax audit is completed without any additional charges, when a good result is obtained for a client in dealing with the bank, or when I give my own advice to a client in an audit report and the client thanks me for it, these are the moments that remain in my memory. 

Recently, many of our clients are in trouble because of the COVID-19, so I have many opportunities to consult with them about various benefits and subsidies, and I am pleased to be able to offer my advice to them. 

Q:　I see that the satisfaction of your customers is what makes your career worthwhile. Was it also significant that your previous job was in sales? 

Of course, I think it is partly because my previous job was in sales, but to be honest, not everything went well. 

Especially when I first joined the company, I could not get any new contracts, and for six months I received daily ” encouragement” from our president, Mr. Kobayashi. 

Q:　”Encouragement”? Is that right? 

I did not receive any scolding. He encouraged me on how to think and act as a salesperson and as an accounting professional. Among those words, the one that left the greatest impression on me was, “When you get referrals from clients, that is one barometer of how much they appreciate you”. One of our basic management goals is to be ” early, fast, quick, and agile in any case. In order to become a consultant who can get referrals from clients as soon as possible, I have changed the words in my own way and made it a point to ensure that “I’ll do anything as quickly as possible, anyway”. 

　　Doing “anything, quickly” means performing more work than anyone else in the same amount of time given. This has helped me gain new clients. The president’s ” encouragement” ceased, and instead he said, “Thank you. 

Q:　What kind of work do you do in the Management Consulting Department to which you belong? 

　In the Management Consulting Department, which I belong to, we mainly provide support related to ” human resources,” such as consulting on corporate organization building and recruitment support for companies. More specifically, I plan training programs, train instructors, diagnose organizations, and develop human resource programs. I am also in charge of our company’s recruiting human resources and marriage counseling services. 

Q:　That’s a very broad range of tasks, isn’t it?

Yes, it is. That is why it is interesting, but my daily schedule also changes depending on the kind of work I am doing. For example, on days when we have training session or recruitment tests, we conduct the training session in the morning, review it, and prepare for the next training session. In my spare time, I correspond and update the system operation of the marriage counseling center and the blog. 

　In the afternoon, I conduct recruitment interviews, meetings for acceptance or rejection, and prepare data for the organizational diagnosis. Depending on the day, I may be involved in training session all day long. 

Q:　That is a very hard schedule. I understand that you are a new employee, and I imagine it must have been very difficult for you to learn each of the wide range of tasks. 

To be honest, it was tough. At first, I went out to workplaces and learned with the enthusiasm of “just trying it out. 

　My job includes corporate training, which targets everyone from young employees to senior management. Most of the trainees had more working experience than I did. It was a challenge for a 22-year-old inexperienced person to be an instructor. However, once the decision was made, I had no choice but to do what I could do to prepare for the job, so I persevered, thinking of how I could be as valuable to the clients as possible. Whether it was training or human resource consulting, I prepared, practiced, looked back, prepared again… and after repeating the process, I found that I was able to do more. 

Q:　You have worked extremely hard “for the customer.” Have you always had this mindset since you were a student? 

　I was studying in the education department, but I did not intend to become a teacher. I wanted to do a job that would essentially contribute to people. When I searched for “Matsumoto, consulting” on internet, I found the MACK Group. I promptly called them and was told, “We are having an information session tomorrow, so please come”.  I attended the information session immediately the next day. 

Q:　You have been very active since you were a student. How did you feel when you attended the information session? 

When I attended the information session, I felt that I would be able to workplace right away. My general image of consulting firms was that there is a long period of time during which you must work as an assistant, and only after that can you take charge of consulting work. 

　However, the MACK Group’s approach was to “try first” and “if you don’t try, you won’t be able to do it,” so I felt that this was a good environment for me because I wanted to try out my abilities right away. In fact, after joining the company, I think it is risky for a company to put a new employee in charge of consulting work right out of the gate, but I feel that the MACK Group provided an environment that encouraged me to take on new challenges. I think this environment suited my character very well. 

Q:　It is an environment that challenges you to try new things. 

Yes, it is. The company allows me to do whatever I want, but in other words, I must do everything by myself. 

　To be honest, there was a time when I thought, “Why would they let a 22-year-old rookie do this kind of work? There was a time when I thought, “Why would I let a 22-year-old rookie do this kind of work? I reduced my sleeping hours in order to balance work and study. But I was not able to do as much as I wanted. What I was doing did not lead to any results. Before long, I began to lose sight of what I was doing consulting for. At that time, I was also scared to stand in front of clients. And there was a time when I lost sight of what training was all about. 

Q:　That is a tough experience. How did you recover from it? 

I asked for advice from those around me. 

One of the most unforgettable moments was when I asked my manager for advice. When I asked him about my fear of standing in front of customers, he said, “That’s because you are not at one with your customers. 

　To be honest, at the time, I did not really understand what he meant. However, I interpreted the words in my own way and began to think about “what I can do for the customer” as my top priority. 

　Until then, I had unconsciously set my sights on “successfully completing the work as it should be done. However, by focusing solely on making the customer better as the essential objective, my perspective changed. 

Through this experience, I realized that the reason I was not successful despite my efforts was because I was only concerned about how I was seen by the customer.  

　Through these experiences, I now work with the belief that the key is “how to make customers feel the need for our services and provide value that exceeds their expectations.