I’ve been working for a long time with Ascendis, ever since I became a freelance contractor over 15 years ago. I have gone from that to running a small company to building a Web3 NFT company and I’ve always found them excellent and very professional, and they’ve always handled my finances, so it’s been great.
Lorenzo has particular expertise in the field of crypto and NFTs. When we started KnownOrigin it was a real nascent industry, so having an accountancy firm that was willing to learn and understand our needs was really useful.
Lorenzo jumped in at the deep end and quickly skilled up in areas to make sure he could deliver excellent advice. It has been really good for us because there just was no one in the whole industry who could do that.
Even when we tried to speak to people who were so-called experts, we still believed Lorenzo had more skills and a deeper understanding of our requirements.
It helps us sleep better at night knowing that people in the accountancy and finance team at Ascendis can handle our cryptocurrency needs, as well as our traditional financing needs and other functions, such as our payroll.
There are a lot of firms out there creating services and claiming to be able to help with accountancy and cryptocurrency, but that is often for individual traders who are buying and selling a bit of Bitcoin.
What we need is someone who can help us run a cryptocurrency business that deals with multi-currency accounts because we have accounts in multiple currencies and so it was vital to be able to blend them in and understand it from a legal and tax treatment perspective.
When it came to our deal with eBay, I knew it was going to be very stressful and it had its up and downs, but Ascendis were always on the ball.
They were very agile and able to quickly respond to questions, which was vital for us when working on the transaction.
The team were put under pressure to turn stuff around quickly, but I was really happy that I could always rely on Lorenzo and the team to quickly get stuff back to us and just knock another point out of the park as part of the due diligence process.
They are one of the first departments that we worked with to get everything done. Everything was done to the standard expected and it just took a lot of hassle and pain away from us as part of the bigger process.
NFTS and cryptocurrency are often something those traditional accountants have not had to come across yet. And this is from the tax perspective as well as the reporting and doing the books.
So having Lorenzo and the team around to be able to speak to eBay put them at ease that everything was looked after. It took a little bit of the fear factor out of it all.
We’re a small business and we’re getting plugged into a huge corporate entity, so the transitional period is key for us. So, it’s just great having a trusted pair of hands who can help us to make that goal smoothly, great.
Personal relationships are important to a business when they are working with an advisor. Right from the top from Richard Fleming through to Andy, who’s helped with the R&D claims to Lorenzo as our lead on the deal with eBay to working with Ben who does a lot of the day-to-day bookkeeping, it’s good and we have a great working relationship. We get on well with everyone and we can be honest with them and get an honest answer back.
It’s always worked well and having that ability to think outside the box has helped us. Just being able to pick up the phone with somebody and speak about small issues is vital.
We never wanted an accountant that just turned at once a year and gave you some piece of paper to sign. It’s an ongoing week-to-week, day-to-day relationship.
We’ve always had a positive experience of being able to flex as we’ve grown from a small business into a bigger business. I think they’re excellent at what they do and very responsive, so I would challenge anyone to give them a go. I’ve recommended Ascendis to a few people and it’s nice to know they’re in good hands.
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