[Case Study] Joining TAX GROUP Transforms Bookkeeping for a Pharmacy-Specialist Tax Accountant: Ichikawa Shu Tax Office Streamlines Operations with Money Forward × TaxSys

SoLabo Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Koichi Tahara) is providing support to the Ichikawa Shu Tax Office (Headquarters: Hino-shi, Tokyo; Tax Accountant/Pharmacist: Shu Ichikawa), which primarily serves pharmacy-related clients, for the utilization of its business infrastructure service 'TaxSys' through membership in the tax accountant network 'TAX GROUP'.

While maintaining their existing business structure centered around Money Forward, OCR processing that previously took an entire day can now be completed in as short as a few seconds to 5 minutes.

Background: OCR Processing Taking a Full Day Became a Business Challenge

The Ichikawa Shu Tax Office was performing bookkeeping tasks for its pharmacy-related clients using Money Forward. Although they had previously introduced another OCR tool, it faced the challenge of taking a full day to complete processing, making it unusable for urgent cases and forcing them to operate in parallel with manual data entry.

Amidst this situation, joining TAX GROUP provided an environment to use the 'TaxSys' business infrastructure service, prompting a review of their bookkeeping operations.

Initiative: Streamlining OCR Processing While Leveraging Existing Operations

In this initiative, they proceeded to organize the peripheral tasks of bookkeeping by utilizing TaxSys, while keeping the Money Forward operations as is.

Specifically, they have begun building a business foundation that does not rely on manual input through initiatives such as:

- Switching receipt OCR processing to TaxSys, significantly improving processing speed. - Color-coding AI judgment results into three levels—'Green, Yellow, Red'—to streamline checking tasks. - Establishing a division of labor where administrative staff handle scanning tasks.

On-site Changes: OCR Processing Time Reduced from 1 Day to 5 Minutes, and Division of Labor Achieved

After implementation, the most significant change was the speed of OCR processing. Processing that was previously assumed to take a full day can now be completed in as little as a few seconds to 5 minutes, allowing for immediate handling of urgent cases.

Furthermore, processing 500 receipts was drastically reduced from about 5 hours to approximately 75 minutes. The tax accountant himself has been freed from data entry, enabling a system where he can concentrate on confirmation and decision-making.

Another major on-site change is that even a solo tax accountant can now easily establish a division of labor, as scanning tasks can be delegated to administrative staff.

Future Outlook: Towards Management Support Leveraging Pharmacy Specialization

Mr. Ichikawa aims to standardize monthly processing and create an environment where he can concentrate on proposal-based work for his clients. By systemizing routine tasks, he can devote more time to management support and financing assistance that leverages his specialization in the pharmacy sector.

TAX GROUP also provides an environment for support beyond TaxSys, including objective advice on client acquisition from external experts and financing support from specialists with practical experience at the Japan Finance Corporation. He feels that the ability to utilize AI will create a significant gap in the future of tax accounting and has high expectations for building that foundation together with TAX GROUP.

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The specifics of how the business was improved and concrete figures from this initiative are detailed in the case study article below.

▼ From 1 day to 5 minutes for OCR processing: The case of Ichikawa Shu Tax Office, which streamlined bookkeeping while keeping its Money Forward operation. https://tax-group.jp/case/450/

About TAX GROUP

TAX GROUP is a voluntary chain for tax accountants and CPAs aiming for sustainable growth while maintaining independence. It provides an environment where members can solve challenges that are difficult to cover alone, such as client acquisition support, educational content via the 'Migiude School' video platform, and individual mentoring support.

The initiative of the Ichikawa Shu Tax Office introduced in this case study also utilizes 'TaxSys,' a dedicated system available to TAX GROUP member firms. TaxSys achieves automation of bookkeeping tasks and a significant reduction in manual data entry work.

https://tax-group.jp/tax-accountant/

About SoLabo Co., Ltd.

As a certified support organization, SoLabo focuses on financing support, handling over 1,000 inquiries per month on average, with a cumulative track record of over 10,000 successful support cases (as of the end of June 2025). Since 2021, the company has strengthened its subsidy application support business, including for business restructuring subsidies. Additionally, it has expanded its scope of support by launching back-office BPO services and public-private partnership-based support for solving local government issues.

Company Name: SoLabo Co., Ltd. Representative: CEO Koichi Tahara Established: December 11, 2015 Headquarters: Link Square Shinjuku, 5-27-5 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo