The following is the original text as published in 2020.

In accordance with the policy we announced to our clients, changes in the external environment and in the structure of our work mean that some employees are scheduled to begin furlough next week, on April 27.

We will endeavor to provide services as normally as possible, but there may be times when we cause you inconvenience. We ask for your understanding.

Notice Issued April 13

We are writing to inform you of our firm's response in connection with the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration.

■ Priorities for Our Work
At our firm, we have established the following priorities.

  1. Support with subsidies for clients that have suspended or scaled back operations
  2. Support with financing for clients whose sales have declined
  3. Labor consultations concerning dismissals and similar matters while operations are contracting
  4. Routine work such as accounting and tax affairs

【Request】
Tax filings, including corporate tax returns, are now effectively extended indefinitely, with filing and payment due by two months after COVID-19 has subsided. Circumstances differ by industry, but we are short of resources because we are giving priority to supporting clients whose very survival is now at stake as a result of the impact, as well as personnel and labor issues related to remote work and dismissals. Should a client suffer a disadvantage such as a penalty from the tax office because we have put off a filing or taken a similar step, our firm will bear it so that we do not cause you inconvenience. Therefore, if a delay in filing would cause you no difficulty, we would be grateful if you would let us know, or if your representative consults you, give the matter positive consideration.

■ Employment Adjustment Subsidies, Financing, and Similar Matters
According to a response from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, certified public accountants are permitted to provide labor and social security attorney services to their clients without restriction. When clients try to complete procedures themselves, the current situation is such that even a consultation at Hello Work, the public employment service, means waiting in line for four hours amid the Three Cs (closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings), and the system is not functioning; it is difficult to proceed on one's own. Given the urgency of the present circumstances, we have decided, in principle, to provide advice and assistance with Employment Adjustment Subsidies and similar matters free of charge even to clients that do not have a labor and social security attorney contract with us. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your representative. However, to respond to these inquiries, staff who normally perform accounting work have been trained and are providing temporary support. We believe this may cause various inconveniences, but we ask that you consult us on the understanding that we are doing our best.

■ Our Firm's Remote Work Arrangements
Based on the government's request to reduce commuting by 80%, we will take the following measures and, beginning tomorrow, gradually transition 80% of our employees to remote work.

  1. HDD encryption
    Because PCs will be taken home, we will protect them so that data cannot be decrypted should they be lost.
  2. Measures for remotely deleting all data
    We will introduce security that enables all data to be remotely deleted from PCs and all other information devices, so that if a device is lost, all data will be deleted when it connects to a network.
  3. Introducing software that records and restricts user activity (UAM)
    We will manage this with software that prohibits and monitors activity so that data is not leaked through email or USB devices.
  4. Operations designed to leave as little data as possible on each person's device through cloud computing and virtualization
    As an accounting firm handles highly confidential data, we place importance on taking the adequate measures above. We ask for your understanding regarding remote work.

■ Our Firm's Retainer Fees
For some clients who have been forced to suspend operations, in view of their extremely difficult circumstances, we will transfer an amount equal to half of their retainer fee as operating support funds for two months beginning next month (in substance, reducing the retainer fee by half). Because of the nature of accounting work, the amount of work does not change according to the level of sales, so retainer fees generally do not fluctuate in the industry. However, we expect the number of companies whose business performance is severely affected to grow in a chain reaction across the country. Accordingly, we will consider expanding the criteria for eligible clients, taking into account the characteristics of each industry.

■ Our Firm's Planned Partial Furloughs
We will place some employees on planned furlough on a daily rotating basis.

【Request】
Only about two to four people will be working on site in the office, with the others working from home. In addition, because of employment adjustments through planned furloughs, there may be cases in which we cannot respond on the same day to inquiries through Chatwork or by telephone because the staff member in charge is absent. We will endeavor to prevent such situations, but ask that you forgive any inconvenience.

Through the above initiatives, we will allocate resources so that we can provide as much proactive support as possible for COVID-19-related matters.
Some aspects of our policy remain subject to change, but we will continue to provide as much support as possible so that our clients can overcome the situation, which changes daily. We appreciate your continued cooperation.