Accounting & Corporate Planning

Building the finance and accounting foundation that supports challenges toward the future

The Tension We Navigate

Balancing the "precision of numbers" that leaves no room for error with the "speed of decision-making" that lets no business opportunity slip away.

As stewards of financial infrastructure, "accuracy in the numbers" across monthly closings, disclosures, and audits is an absolute, non-negotiable requirement for us. Yet if we confined ourselves solely to faithfully depicting past figures, we could never keep pace with the speed of business growth that UPSIDER aspires to. Precisely because we build "an unshakable foundation of numbers" grounded in a deep understanding of accounting standards, taxation, and internal controls, we can respond to leadership and business teams asking "we need a decision by tomorrow" with the fastest possible answer, without sacrificing accuracy. Rather than treating precision and speed as a trade-off, we make them coexist and accelerate management decision-making itself. That is the kind of Accounting & Corporate Planning team we strive to be.

Meet the Accounting & Corporate Planning team

What We Do

We own everything related to UPSIDER's finances end to end, from accounting and financial reporting through to FP&A and corporate management. Specifically, in the "accounting and financial reporting" domain we handle monthly, quarterly, and annual closings, the preparation of various disclosure materials, liaison with our audit firm, taxation, and the design and operation of internal controls. On top of that, in the "Finance and FP&A" domain unique to a financial services business, we manage liquidity on a daily basis, rigorously control interest costs at the time of borrowing to optimize funding costs, formulate annual budgets and mid-term plans, conduct monthly budget-versus-actual analysis, and produce reporting for management meetings. We are also actively involved on the business side, offering accounting-perspective advice on new products and proposing improvements to operational workflows. Our work is not simply about compiling numbers; it is about using the numbers as a starting point to drive both management and business decisions.

Why We Exist

Our purpose is to ensure that UPSIDER's earnest aspiration to "build a world-class financial platform that supports challengers" does not remain a pipe dream, but is realized as a tangible business. Trust in a financial platform can only stand on an unshakable foundation of numbers. At the same time, the pace of growth for a business with global ambitions can only be generated through a continuous stream of sharp management decisions. That is why we exist as the team that simultaneously serves as both "the foundation of a trusted company" and "the management brain that accelerates growth," supporting UPSIDER's challenge from the ground up.

How We Work

We aim to be not mere "compilers" who simply produce numbers on request, but "owners" who step into the heart of management and the business. If anything about the closing or budget-versus-actual figures feels even slightly off, we trace it back to the underlying transactions and specifications to get the primary information firsthand. We engage in discussions on new products early, from an accounting perspective, working through the issues around operational workflows and accounting treatment together. When it comes to daily liquidity and funding costs, we don't just manage them; we are always looking for room to optimize. We align on the agenda for management meetings with leadership in advance, setting things up so that decisions can be made on the spot that day. Not retreating into our specialty, but acting to raise the probability of the business's success. That is what we care about.

Work Style

We work primarily remotely while setting roughly four in-office days a month to foster communication within the team. In addition, the team has adopted its own remote office, creating an environment where people can casually call out to one another even online. During periods that require intensive collaboration, such as closing seasons and disclosure work, we proceed by flexibly switching between remote and in-person. We actively pursue automation and AI for routine tasks, creating an environment where people can invest their time in the work that truly deserves human attention: "the work of discerning the real issues" and "the work of supporting decision-making."

Growth & Learning

Because the team brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds, including certified public accountants, people who have come from financial institutions, and members with deep accounting experience, we have an environment where we learn from one another's expertise through our daily work. We also have mechanisms in place to continuously stay on top of the latest developments in our specialist fields, such as revisions to accounting standards, tax reforms, and updates to financial regulations, and there are ample opportunities to learn directly from active professionals through discussions with our audit firm, tax firm, and external advisors.

Team Culture & Events

We use our roughly four in-office days a month not only for work but also as opportunities for team communication. From everyday casual chats in our remote office to settings where we discuss things thoroughly in person, we value a way of interacting that is conscious of switching between "on" and "off."

Who We're Looking For

- People who can be thoroughly rigorous about logic and numbers: Those who can pursue "why does this number come out this way?" rather than settling for "roughly right," and who can engage honestly with the logic and facts behind the numbers.

- People who enjoy unknown territory, a ball of intellectual curiosity: Those who can take a step forward thinking "this looks interesting" even in areas outside their own expertise, such as accounting, taxation, financial regulation, new business models, and cutting-edge technology.

- People who want to be owners of the business and the front lines: Those who see Corporate not as a "support function" but as "an owner building the business together," and who can take a genuine interest in the products and the front lines and get involved themselves.

- People who can mobilize leadership and other departments: Those with the drive to organize the issues, bring stakeholders on board, and move decision-making forward.

Our Future Vision

A few years from now, in the phase where UPSIDER has established itself as "the main bank for challengers" and is expanding its business globally, we want to have realized a world-class Corporate function in both the speed of management decision-making and the reliability of our numbers. We aspire to be a team that embodies both the sense of speed befitting a startup and the discipline worthy of a global financial platform.

About the Team's Composition

The team currently consists of 7 employees and 3 assistants.

What characterizes us is that we bring together members from diverse backgrounds, including people who have come from financial institutions, members who have built up rich accounting experience at operating companies, and certified public accountants.

By combining each member's expertise across finance, accounting, and hands-on practice, we support UPSIDER's Corporate function.

Key Members

From the Team

「先生」と呼ばれた会計士が、「1年生」になった日。「正解のない怖さ」と向き合い続けた1人目バックオフィスの越境録

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「大きなビジョンを掲げて、一緒に日本を良くしていきたい」公認会計士がスタートアップでの挑戦を決意したワケ

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UPSIDER B-SIDE #10 矢﨑美景のB-SIDE – どこまでも直向きで努力家な、愛され「天然」会計士の素顔。

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