Rina Okabe
Leads year-end audits for manufacturers and exporters. Focuses on inventory valuation, revenue cut-off near port shipping windows, and governance communication before report issuance.
About
A coastal assurance practice built around year-end fieldwork
Stone Pier Assurance Group grew from audit partners who spent March and April in warehouses, cash rooms, and boardrooms across Shikoku and the Kansai corridor. We remain a hands-on financial auditing firm — independent opinions, bilingual reporting when needed, and management letters written for operating boards.
Origin
The practice takes its name from the stone piers that line Tokushima’s working harbour — structures that look quiet until a freighter ties up and every bolt is tested. Financial auditing is similar: the report is a short document, but it rests on weeks of inventory counts, bank confirmations, cut-off tests, and disclosure reviews.
We formed the group to serve mid-size Japanese corporations, overseas subsidiaries filing local statements, and closely held companies that crossed statutory audit thresholds and needed an auditor who would still visit the plant floor.
How we work with clients
Engagement letters come before fieldwork. We fix the team, the weeks on site, the fee, and the document list. Independence rules are not a footnote: we do not prepare the books we later audit, and we do not advocate for clients before tax authorities on matters that would impair our objectivity.
Where overseas parents need English packs, we prepare bilingual working summaries while keeping Japanese originals as the primary evidence trail.
People
Engagement leadership
Kenji Sato
Coordinates interim reviews and agreed-upon procedures for facilities and investor packs. Former banking credit analyst before joining assurance work.
Naomi Ellis
Handles opening-balance assurance when clients change auditors or adopt a new reporting framework. Coordinates predecessor access and equity bridge testing.
Values in practice: independence first, fieldwork over desk-only judgements, bilingual clarity when stakeholders need both languages, and candid timelines when confirmations or predecessor files run late.