With BDO’s help, Trainers’ House gains time for business development

We needed a new financial management partner because I made a mistake. Our long-serving finance director left the company and Iiris's role changed. At this point we hired a financial management partner and made a mistake in that partner choice. We struggled with that for too long. We started exploring options for potential partners and BDO proved to be the best in our review. We primarily buy expertise. Let's break this down. Accuracy: we don't seek perfection, but high hit accuracy. Special expertise: as a listed company we need, for example, IFRS expertise. Trust is in a very important role. We think that BDO's team is part of our team; we handle things well on both sides. We anticipate and make each other better. BDO was very interested in Trainers' House from the beginning and was always thoroughly prepared for meetings. This increased confidence and built a good foundation for cooperation from the first meeting. BDO brought IFRS experts to the first meetings, for example. Trainers' House has a small finance team and the company is at the same time a listed company with many obligations. When we reviewed options, stock exchange expertise was missing from many large operators. BDO stood out in this regard. — Saku Keskitalo, Finance Director, Trainers' House. BDO handles Trainers' House's VAT matters, tax returns, financial statements, and ESEF (listed company financial statements), excluding bookkeeping and sales invoices. Nummila handles invoicing entirely on Trainers' House's side. We think Trainers' House has been an excellent partnership and cooperation with them is smartly built. With them comes the feeling that we are in the same boat. — Kajsa Backas-Heikkilä, Business Director, Financial Management Services, BDO. One wonderful thing about Trainers' House's organisational culture is the culture of gratitude. They thank for the work and highlight good things. Of course we also get development suggestions from them and they know how to ask us for what they need. A culture of gratitude also motivates the cooperation partner. — Kajsa Backas-Heikkilä, Business Director, Financial Management Services, BDO. BDO's exceptionally good customer service is evident in professionalism and speed. If, for example, we ask BDO for help, they respond quickly and if there is something we don't understand, they help us understand. And if the person at BDO who handles our matters doesn't know something, they find out. We never get left alone. Basic everyday operations work extremely well. We have in common that we like to make detailed plans in advance. The focus in cooperation with BDO is on the future. The work is not just about correcting errors. From both a personal and business perspective, the importance of time use is great. From a finance director's perspective, cooperation is ideal when the focus is forward and not backward. We anticipate things: such standards are coming or changing. BDO has freed up more time for me to manage and develop the business. I have gained peace of mind. We have experienced how terrible financial statement preparation can be and now we got to experience that if this goes this easily then this can be quite fun. — Iiris Nummila, Finance Manager, Trainers' House