FinCraft

FinCraft is a practice of accountants and tax advisers on Zevenbergen in Lier, in the province of Antwerp. The office publishes three figures that place its size: more than 450 active clients, seven staff and fourteen years in business. It presents itself as officially recognised by the ITAA and supports small companies at every stage of their development. The ratio between client numbers and team size points to an office relying heavily on automating accounting production.

The first discipline is accounting, processed digitally and presented as a means rather than an end: the firm frames its aim in terms of understanding the figures and having permanent access to the financial health of the business, without handling paper. It names Exact Online, Silverfin and Yuki, a combination covering both day-to-day bookkeeping and accounts production.

The second discipline is tax advice. The firm puts it plainly, looking for every lawful optimisation capable of lowering the tax burden. The distinction between lawful optimisation and a risky arrangement is what matters, and an office that sticks to it explicitly sets a clearer frame than a general promise to "lower your taxes".

The third strand is wealth planning, aimed at building a pension and protecting dependants. That strand goes beyond an accounting office's usual scope and follows a long-term logic: decisions on director remuneration, an individual pension commitment or holding property through the company play out over a whole career, not over a single financial year.

The firm finally announces two strands for exceptional transactions. Business acquisition is supported from the first valuation and due diligence through to legal completion. Special engagements cover mergers, acquisitions and restructurings, which the office describes as crossroads calling for specific expertise. That range brings FinCraft close to a transaction advisory profile, still uncommon in an office of this size.

The ratio between the 450 clients reported and the seven staff repays attention. It works out at around sixty files per person, a level sustainable only with largely automated processing and reasonably uniform files. That is consistent with the software named and with a client base of self-employed people and small companies; it would be hard to hold on group files or heavy cost accounting.

The client base brings together self-employed professionals, small companies and companies being formed around Lier and the Antwerp area. The firm claims a combination of fresh ambition and accumulated experience, with continuous training for the team and tool-assisted processing as guarantees of speed and clear reporting. For a company considering external growth or a transfer in the medium term, having those capabilities at the usual accountant avoids assembling an advisory team at the moment the transaction arises.