Evolving with the Ever-Changing Business and Achieving Appropriate and Timely Disclosure of Financial Results

There is no routine work at the Accounting Department of Recruit Holdings.

This is my fifth year with the Company. For the first three years, I was in charge of the Staffing business, which mainly operates in Japan and North America, and for the next year, I was in charge of the Matching & Solutions business in Japan, where I was consulted regarding accounting procedures from the business’s staff and obtained information on irregular events and discussed responses together with them. While building relationships, I was responsible for collecting the information necessary for consolidated accounting and ensuring proper and timely disclosure of financial results.

Recently, I have moved to the Financial Accounting Group, where I am in charge of designing and improving consolidated accounting practices and processes, as well as studying the accounting treatment associated with the newly introduced portion of executive compensation which is linked to ESG indicators. I am currently working with other departments, such as Talent Management, Tax, and Treasury who are designing the system, to sort out the issues and consult with our partner auditing firm to find the best solutions.

Many people may have the image that accounting involves a lot of routine work, but this is not the case at all, or at least not for the accounting function at Recruit Holdings. Our business is constantly changing, and everyone is always thinking of better ways to carry out their work, and we are always willing to make major changes in the way we do things. We never do the same thing over and over again. In my previous job, I was in charge of accounting at a bank for 10 years, and it was a relatively calm workplace in terms of both organization and work. When I started working at the Company, I strongly felt that “companies and teams are living things,” and the gap was quite large.

At the Company, we are given a great deal of discretionary power, and we are not closely monitored by our supervisors, and we are left to make our own decisions on how to proceed with tasks. At first, I was puzzled because I did not know how far I could go, but once I understood that I could proceed on my own with the work I was entrusted with, I found it much easier to work. The high degree of freedom means that it is possible to take the easy way out. Even so, work progresses rather quickly, and I think this is because each of us has a high sense of ownership and trusts each other to do the work.

If you let ourselves go with the flow of the environment and face the opportunities before us as best we can, your world will expand little by little.

I was asked in an interview, “what type of person are you?” I answered, “I don't mind being asked to sit back and do steady work, but if the floor is moving, I am the type of person who runs with it.” Since I joined the Company, new things have been happening frequently, such as system changes and organizational restructuring, and I am amazed at how fast things are moving. After gaining some experience in accounting, many people transfer to other departments such as Treasury and Tax to broaden their careers. Furthermore, since people with various backgrounds join the Company, their roles within the team are constantly changing. It is exactly like “having let myself go with the flow of the river, I have ended up in the next country.” Surrounded by talented people who I can honestly say are amazing, I was unwittingly lifted up, and as I continued to run and run, facing the new opportunities that kept coming up in front of me, the world gradually expanded. I think it is truly wonderful that I was able to have such an experience.

When I tell you this, some of you may think, “Recruit is a company with high-energy culture, isn’t it? Maybe I wouldn’t fit in...” As a matter of fact, when I told my friends from school that I was working for Recruit, they worried about me, saying “You’re not really that type of person, are you? Are you going to be okay?” (Haha) However, there is no need to worry about it. Recruit Holdings is an organization of specialists, and there are many people who joined as mid-career hires. There is a calm atmosphere you can get accustomed to easily. There are, of course, many situations where you can feel the momentum from the conversations with business people and the way projects are carried out, but it is very interesting to be able to work while receiving various stimuli. I would like to invite everyone to experience the workplace and see the appeal of working here.

As a corporate staff member and working mother,
There are many role models who provide tips for your career and life.

On my first day at the Company, I attended the kickoff for the beginning of the fiscal year, where awards were presented to individuals and projects that had achieved high performance in the previous year. The award winners shared with us the details of their work, and one of them from another department told us, “I always work with an awareness that we have to catch loose balls before they’re dropped.” Even if you don't have any special expertise, if you find something you can do and keep picking up tasks, you will accumulate a small amount of trust, which will surely be useful for the next opportunity. I thought that makes perfect sense, and I have kept these words in mind. I thought it was an important stance that all corporate staff should share though their job titles and departments may differ. There are many colleagues in this company who think seriously and passionately about how Recruit and their work should look. I think it is rare to find a company where its employees speak so passionately about their own company.

I also learned different workstyles from the people around me. As I work full time while raising my daughter who goes to a nursery school, I am grateful to be able to work remotely. It is also great to have many role models around me who have achieved great results while balancing work and childcare. The other day, an article in the company newsletter introduced a person who is working hard while raising three children. In the article, she said, “I tell my children that we are a team, so let's all work together.” I was extremely impressed with this. I immediately said to my daughter, "We are a team, right? So let’s work together, will you?" She seemed to understand and started cooperating with me during meetings in the evenings. She is still sitting next to me, clattering away at a toy laptop computer she made herself out of two pieces of cardboard. (Haha) I think Recruit Holdings is a very rewarding place to work, where you can meet a variety of people in a variety of jobs and pick up many hints that will benefit your career and life. I can confidently recommend this company to anyone who is considering joining.