“The real value is not knowing everything. It is knowing what needs to be done next – and who can do it best.“
Clark Ahten
When successful founders are asked later what they considered their biggest obstacle when starting a business, one answer comes up remarkably often: bureaucracy. Many business ventures are abandoned while still in the planning stage simply because the people responsible do not have the right support at their side.
Today, many professions use the title “consultant”, and each consultant will certainly be a specialist in their own field. The same applies to a CFO, who knows their profession inside out in their home country. But as soon as business crosses national borders, the challenges can quickly become difficult to navigate.
Of course, a great deal can be researched independently. Especially today, with the help of artificial intelligence, very few questions are impossible to solve. But if, for example, a British accountant has to investigate every invoice received after the formation of a German GmbH to determine whether it is fraudulent or a legitimate request from a German authority, there will soon be little time left for anything else. More importantly, someone first needs to know that such invoices can pose a considerable risk.
Life becomes much easier for everyone involved when there is a neutral point of contact in Germany – someone who can act independently of commercially driven advisory firms or public authorities. Not someone who says, “That is not my responsibility,” but someone who says, “I will look into it and tell you what needs to be done.”
That is exactly what we are here for.
Clark Ahten
on-site representative • corporate finance & administration • company formation services
When someone asks me what I do for a living, I usually answer, “I’m an accountant.” My daughter then likes to give me a discreet kick under the table and correct me: “Business consultant.” In the end, however, neither description really says very much.
You could perhaps describe me as a combination of pioneer and firefighter. I help others find new ways forward and step in when things have gone wrong. Is there a suitable job title for that? Perhaps simply: “I’m the man for the job.”
With more than 30 years of professional experience, I can offer a broad range of administrative and commercial expertise from which founders in particular can benefit. I was born in the German state of Hesse shortly before the legendary Woodstock Festival took place further west.
After finishing school, I began my professional career with commercial training in the public sector. I later qualified as a certified accountant (Bilanzbuchhalter, IHK) through the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Darmstadt. I became self-employed in 1994 and founded ahten consult GmbH in 2001.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to support numerous clients, some of them for several decades. These include two French companies and three British companies that I successfully assisted on their way into the German market. It is precisely this experience that I would like to continue offering to others.
on-site representative
Establishing a company in Germany is already a challenge in itself. Keeping it running afterwards in an administrative environment shaped by extensive bureaucracy is another matter altogether.
This is exactly where we see our role. As a local point of contact, we take care of those matters for which a newly established German entity does not yet have its own administrative structure. We deal with correspondence from public authorities, coordinate external service providers, answer day-to-day questions from headquarters and make sure that important matters do not get lost between different areas of responsibility.
We do not need to have the answer to every question ourselves. What matters is recognising what can be handled directly, where specialist expertise is required and who the right person is to deal with it.
In short: we are there in Germany when someone is needed to take care of things.
corporate finance & administration
Our professional roots are in accounting. Over the years, our scope of work has expanded considerably from there.
We manage ongoing financial accounting in accordance with the German Commercial Code (HGB), through to preparation for the annual financial statements, including fixed asset accounting, cost accounting and the necessary supporting work. Reporting, controlling and the preparation of German financial data to meet the requirements of an international head office can also form part of our work.
In practice, however, commercial responsibilities rarely end with accounting. We therefore also take care of related administrative tasks, coordinate external payroll or tax service providers, support audits and communication with public authorities, and help establish reliable processes for a growing organisation.
And when the German company eventually becomes large enough to handle these responsibilities with its own employees, we do not see that as a problem, but as part of our assignment: documenting processes, training new employees and transferring responsibilities in a structured manner.
Good support is not measured by how long an external service provider remains indispensable, but by how well the company can operate independently afterwards.
company formation services
When establishing a German company, there is a specialist for almost every individual topic. Lawyers handle the incorporation, tax advisers deal with tax matters, banks open accounts, and other service providers take care of their respective areas.
What is often missing is someone who keeps an eye on the bigger picture.
Our work therefore does not begin with filling in a single form, nor does it end once the company has been entered in the commercial register. We support the development of the commercial and administrative structures, coordinate the various parties involved and take care of the many practical issues that arise between company formation and a fully functioning business operation.
In doing so, we draw on more than three decades of experience in setting up businesses, managing change and, in particular, supporting German entities within international corporate groups.
Our aim is not to take on as many tasks as possible ourselves. Our aim is to make sure that every necessary task is identified, properly coordinated and handled by the right person.