FinFace is a family run facial prosthetics clinic based in central Vaasa. The company offers clients customised maxillofacial prosthetics for rehabilitation of congenital, trauma and disease related defects. Since Finface is the only expert in maxillofacial prosthetics in Finland, clients travel to the clinic from different parts of the country. The job of FinFace is to provide a lifelong service for the patient to be able to live their day-to-day life as normally as possible.
Simon Laight, CEO, and his wife Jenni Laight took over FinFace when Jenni’s father retired after 40 years of service. The husband-wife team has now been running the company on their own for five years.
“The work that we do, disguising defects to the best of our capabilities, has a great impact on the lives of our clients and their families. We offer a lifelong and life-changing treatment that allows the person to integrate back into society after a trauma or disease.”
Language problems and old-fashioned accounting led them to Bäck & Vilén
With approximately 30 clients per year travelling to Vaasa from all over the country, there is little time to spend on complicated manual accounting systems or gathering and delivering lots of paper. Simon and Jenni quickly realized that they needed to make a change.
“The biggest issue for us was the time-consuming accounting systems that we inherited with the company. In addition, I was struggling from a language perspective. I am British and not very familiar with the Finnish terms or systems, and the accountants were not able to explain them to me in English.”
Simon searched for the right accountants for quite a long time. He wanted the accounting to be done in a modern way, server-based and paperless.
“Johan (Hällmark) at Bäck & Vilén was very understanding from the beginning. He gave a good first impression. I don’t think it was the first time that he heard a story like ours – he knew exactly where to start.”
Fast and knowledgeable service in English wins the race
At Bäck & Vilén, there are no language barriers. Simon exclusively uses English when in contact with the company and he receives all the information and documentation that he needs in English.
”There has been a great improvement. Johan and his colleagues are patient and helpful. They give factual information very quickly, and they also provide ideas. Although I know that Johan is very busy, he always answers his phone and I know I can pop in to see him if I need to.”
In addition, Simon has learnt a lot about Finnish business. He especially enjoys the availability and the variety of services that Bäck & Vilén offers.
“I discuss so many different aspects of the entrepreneurship with them, everything from business administration to grant applications to decision making.”
