Reborn in Tokyo: From Heiress to Global Tycoon

Chapter 291 Saionji Special Mission Command Office

There was a slight pause in the air on both sides of the long table.

Those present were all shrewd business veterans. They astutely grasped the message conveyed by the young lady's gesture of drinking tea.

This is a silent acquiescence.

Once established, the General Affairs Office that Satsuki just announced will instantly become the most powerful department within the group. While the young lady's appointment alone might be obeyed, it wouldn't be enough to command respect from those in power and oversee these regional officials.

The young lady needs to use the words of these executives to test the quality of this newly-made "corrector".

Maki must display her fangs in front of this long table, enough to intimidate everyone.

The people in the room exchanged glances discreetly.

Koji Matsumoto, president of Semiconductor & Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd., was the first to break the silence.

He placed his hands on the table with great respect.

"Ms. Maki," Matsumoto said calmly, "the establishment of the General Affairs Office is indeed very beneficial to the group's strategic planning. However, when I actually execute overseas acquisitions and basic infrastructure projects, I often face extremely complex realities."

Matsumoto stared directly at Maki.

"Acquiring overseas technology assets requires us to pay huge sums of money to local labor unions to appease them; securing logistics hubs requires us to pay various mediation fees to different parties. These expenses are all invisible 'friction costs'."

"If the statistics department relies solely on rigid accounting figures and compliance regulations for its audits, it will inevitably stifle these necessary expenditures. This would paralyze the front-end operations completely."

He adopted a posture of seeking advice.

"I would like to ask, if the control room were under your leadership, how would you balance the conflict between digital compliance and real-world business operations?"

This is an extremely real business dilemma. Just as water that is too clear has no fish, in business competition, demanding completely clean books is tantamount to tying one's own hands.

All eyes were on Maki's shoulders.

Facing the intense, almost tangible scrutinizing gazes on the field, Maki took a deep breath.

She stood up from the side chair and walked to one end of the long table.

She forcefully suppressed the unease in her heart. She knew that this was her only chance in this lifetime.

The young lady has already presented her with an opportunity, offering her a ray of light. If she can't even seize this, she probably won't be able to endure her previous life any longer.

"President Matsumoto."

"When you acquired an optical component factory in Europe last month, you paid three million US dollars in 'consulting fees' to local union leaders through a third-party public relations firm. This money was recorded as market research expenses in the general ledger."

Matsumoto's eyes twitched slightly. This secret expenditure hadn't even been detected during the initial review by the finance department.

"In my model, gray expenditures within the permissible threshold are defined as reasonable friction costs."

Maki stared directly at Koji Matsumoto.

"As long as the subsidiary ultimately achieves its macro-strategic goals, and the conversion rate of these friction costs meets the minimum requirements for capital investment, the General Affairs Department will approve all gray-area losses within the model threshold."

She looked at Matsumoto and gave him the first rule.

"The standards for the General Affairs Office's review are very simple—whether the project deviates from the group's strategy. As long as your funds are indeed used to break down the barriers to mergers and acquisitions, no matter how dirty the books are, the General Affairs Office will stamp it as compliant."

The executives in the conference room nodded slightly.

"To ensure that this 'tolerance' is not abused."

Maki then threw out the second shackle.

"The General Affairs Office's financial audit system will be integrated in real time with the Saionji Information System (SIS) physical intelligence network. Double-blind cross-validation will be implemented."

She glanced at Zhengren.

"You reimbursed three million dollars for consulting fees, and SIS will send intelligence personnel to verify on-site whether that European union has truly stopped striking. The General Affairs Office will ensure that the physical operational results of the subsidiary precisely correspond to the strategic instructions from headquarters."

Executive Director Endo sat at the head of the table on the right. After listening to Maki's two principles, he slowly rubbed his fingertips on the table.

He actually recognized the girl. When she was ostracized, he thought she was just a slightly talented loner.

There are actually quite a few people like this. Although their individual abilities are higher than those of ordinary people, if they cannot integrate into group activities, sometimes their performance is not as good as that of ordinary people.

But unexpectedly, she had the potential to be noticed by the young lady. Well then, let me test her worth.

Endo sat upright and then posed a question.

"Ms. Maki. If the long-term strategy requires a subsidiary to engage in a price war and voluntarily bear substantial losses," Endo's voice was low, "then the year-end bonuses of each executor are directly linked to the department's profits."

"In situations where interests are completely conflicting, individual managers, in order to protect their own bonuses, are highly likely to outwardly comply with but inwardly defy loss-making orders. Even with the strictest oversight from the central management office, it's impossible to force a rational manager to voluntarily harm their own interests. Even if it were possible, it would incur enormous monitoring costs and reduce efficiency. How can this be addressed?"

Maki turned her head and looked at the group's chief financial officer.

"Executive Director Endo, the third principle of the General Affairs Office is called 'Internal Transfer Pricing'."

Maki speaks extremely fast.

"At the same time the strategic loss instruction is issued by the control room, the system will simultaneously calculate a 'strategic loss subsidy curve' based on market capacity and the intensity of the price war."

"Every yen incurred by a subsidiary in the execution of strategic objectives will be fully covered by the headquarters' funds. This subsidy will be directly included in the subsidiary's current profit."

"Use headquarters funds to directly buy out the partial interests of each department. Ensure that the year-end bonuses of all senior executives who resolutely execute the instructions will not be affected in any way."

Maki looked at everyone.

"The control room is not only a corrective mechanism, but also a computing hub that ensures that everyone's personal interests are not harmed when executing strategies."

The area on both sides of the long table fell completely silent.

As the executives looked at the young woman with black-rimmed glasses, all their doubts gradually dissipated, and they suddenly felt a sense of clarity.

She accurately grasped the core of capital and human nature. She used financial subsidies to quell greed, double-blind cross-checking to lock down the bottom line, and gray-scale tolerance to unleash execution power.

Only at this moment did they fully understand the profound meaning behind the young lady's choice of her.

An agency like the General Affairs Office, which wields significant censorship power, is highly susceptible to offending people.

Ordinary employees dare not investigate the accounts of these high-ranking officials; while senior executives are deeply entrenched in factions and personal relationships, making the investigations a mere formality.

As a member of the Saionji family, Maki Saionji possesses an innate legal basis for auditing, making her unassailable by any high-ranking official. At the same time, she is a pure data fanatic who has long been marginalized by her family and scorns interpersonal relationships.

This kind of "family outsider" who is not afraid to offend anyone and only recognizes objective figures and the logic of capital is the perfect candidate to carry out internal correction.

No one raised any further objections; they bowed their heads in complete submission.

Satsuki put down her bone china teacup.

Seeing everyone's reaction, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Since no one has any objections, the review standards for the General Affairs Office are set as follows."

"in addition."

Satsuki turned her head and looked at Fujita Tsuyoshi, who had been standing behind her like a shadow.

"To make up for Maki's lack of experience and execution skills."

"I appoint Fujita Tsuyoshi as Special Inspector of the General Affairs Office. In the event that a subsidiary resists the General Affairs Office's decisions or refuses to cooperate with the penetration of underlying data, Fujita will be responsible for physically taking over the department."

One is written, the other is physical. Data correction and physical enforcement constitute the dual-core architecture of the control room.

Satsuki stood up.

"Effective immediately, the General Affairs Office will take full control of the procurement accounting for the Group's core projects, as well as the compliance review of major mergers and acquisitions."

She glanced at the executives on either side of the long table and paused briefly.

"As I just mentioned, this includes friction costs within the tolerance threshold of the overall system. You can set up your own private funds, as long as it doesn't affect your KPIs, I won't interfere."

Her gaze turned cold and fell on Tokuhiro Eguchi, the president of the Saionji Construction Company.

"However, if someone, in order to pocket tens of millions of yen more in price difference, dares to stuff substandard rebar into load-bearing walls in certain areas, and if such a scheme to satisfy personal desires threatens the security and strategy of the group's core assets..."

A cold sweat instantly broke out on Eguchi Tokuhiro's back. He immediately lowered his head, avoiding Satsuki's gaze.

The young lady was clearly targeting herself. Cheap screws? And put them in a load-bearing wall? Some people really have a lot of nerve…

If he can't find these people, he'll no longer be surnamed Jiangkou.

Satsuki withdrew her gaze. She turned around and walked towards Maki, who was sitting on the side chair.

She stopped in front of Maki, extended her right hand, and handed her a document with red annotations.

"Maki".

Maki immediately reached out and caught the document.

Satsuki looked at her.

"Go. Put the crooked track back on track."

"For the group, for the family, or perhaps, for me."

Maki gripped the document in her hand tightly.

She took half a step back from the side chair, put her legs together, and stood up straight.

Then, she faced Satsuki and bowed deeply.

A perfect 90-degree bow. Her upper body was parallel to the ground, and she remained upright for a long time.

"Yes, young lady."