We will provide new solutions to support work style reform and contribute to the sustainable growth of companies Yuji Kawasaki, Deputy General Manager BPO Services Promotion Div.
Ayumi Hiraoka, Manager, BPO Services Promotion Div.
Setsuko Miyashita, Accounting Solutions Department, NOC Outsourcing & Consulting Inc.

“We have to respond to various laws and regulations...” “I want to promote work style reform, but we lack human resources...” “I cannot work from home because of paper invoices and stamping work...” One means of solving these accounting problems is “full outsourcing” of BPO (business process outsourcing) operations.
Fuyo General Lease has co-created with its consolidated subsidiary NOC Outsourcing & Consulting Inc. (hereinafter referred to as NOC) and NTT Communications Corporation (hereinafter referred to as NTT Com) to develop a “total accounting and invoicing solution” that realizes the full outsourcing of accounting services.

Accounting departments have been forced to respond two events affecting invoicing operations: The January 2022 amendments to the Law Concerning Preservation of National Tax Records in Electronic Form, and the October 2023 introduction of the invoicing system. In addition, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many companies are introducing working from home, but many accounting departments have not been able to make progress with these measures due to insufficient digitalization.

Many companies are considering introducing systems to improve business efficiency and reduce costs, as well as digitizing documents and materials that were previously paper-based. However, there are many cases where simply introducing the system does not lead to a solution.

We have heard from many companies that the system is not as efficient as they thought it would be, and that there is still a burden on salespeople, such as scanning invoices. If you try to simply substitute the system without changing the conventional workflow, you will not see good results. When we deploy a system, we also propose a review of the business processes, including the division of roles, authorities, and procedures in order to maximize the system’s effectiveness.” (Miyashita)

Paper invoices involve manual tasks such as journal creation and invoice data entry, in addition to opening and scanning. If a document is deficient, the customer must be contacted to check. As long as this kind of work remains, it will be difficult to improve the efficiency of accounting operations and realize working from home. In response to these problems, Fuyo General Lease has launched an innovative service that combines the advantages of systems and outsourcing.

NTT Com’s cloud-based electronic invoice support service, “BConnection Digital Trade,” is a new service that packages NOC’s BPO services, which boasts 30 years of experience with 1000 companies, and is a “total solution for accounting and invoicing.”

It is possible to outsource operations such as opening, scanning, and manually inputting data for invoice processing, and inputting data to journal and accounting systems, to highly-experienced professionals. All invoice data can be checked and approved in the system, and electronic invoices can be issued. With this “Total Accounting and Invoicing Solution,” you can fully outsource a number of tasks in the accounting department. Of course, the solution also supports the amendments to the Law Concerning Preservation of National Tax Records and the invoice system mentioned earlier.

“Companies need to be prepared for business continuity risks, such as a possible COVID-19 outbreaks, sudden retirement, and mid- to long-term human resource development. We propose full outsourcing that can lead to enhanced functionality without the inherent risks by relying on external experts. It is our mission and our pleasure to enable our customers to use the time they save for their core tasks (such as highly productive work).” (Hiraoka)

According to preliminary estimates, companies that process 1,000 invoices per month can reduce costs by about 8.5 million yen, assuming 4,200 hours per year and an hourly rate of 2,000 yen. In addition, the solution is expected to improve operational efficiency and reduce indirect costs such as paper and mailing costs. Since the total operations are outsourced, companies can also move closer to realizing 100% working from home.

This time, we have talked about a solution that is closely linked to invoices and accounting departments, but there are many tasks in our customer’s companies that cannot be done simply by deploying a system. Such partial system deployment also has limited benefits in terms of cost reduction and business efficiency. For this reason, Fuyo General Lease believes that more and more companies will consider “full outsourcing” of operations in the future.

“We will continue to actively develop alliances with other companies to meet the needs of companies, and provide new services in various fields, including human resources, payroll, and general affairs. Indirect departments such as accounting and human resources are essential for companies. I believe that taking on such important work will make us an essential part of our customers’ businesses. And by building up this experience, we hope to also become essential for society.” (Kawasaki)

I will continue to keep a close eye on the BPO services provided by Fuyo General Lease.