Interview with Tax and Finance Expert Kelly Wang: Crossing Oceans with Expertise, Shaping Influence with Vision
In her office in Toronto’s financial district, Kelly Wang’s daily routine remains busy yet orderly. As the Owner & Director of three professional accounting firms in Toronto, she handles complex matters daily—cross-border tax structuring, corporate compliance solutions, family wealth succession—with composure and determination. Few know that this highly regarded expert in Canada’s tax and finance field started from Shanghai, China, navigating through roles at listed companies, top-tier wealth management institutions, and prestigious international academic programs, eventually growing into an independent entrepreneur and industry leader on North American soil.
(Tax and Finance Expert Kelly Wang)
Giant Network: The “Systemic Thinking” Awakening on the IPO Battlefield
Kelly Wang’s professional journey began within the rigorous, practical Chinese financial system. In 2006, freshly graduated from Zhengzhou University, she joined Giant Network Group Co., Ltd. (Giant Network) as an Accounting Supervisor, formally entering the finance field. Working for a US-listed company, she was fully involved in financial accounting, internal control construction, and compliance management, honing her understanding of US GAAP and SEC regulatory requirements day by day. In this high-standard, demanding environment, she forged a professional foundation characterized by precision, stability, and an intolerance for error.
“That was the first real battle of my career,” Kelly Wang recalled, a trace of tension still visible in her eyes. “As an accounting supervisor, I participated in the company’s entire transformation from a private enterprise to a public company meeting SEC disclosure standards. We not only had to restate historical financial data according to US GAAP, but also, in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404 requirements, we had to develop process improvement plans and restructure internal frameworks for every link connecting finance and operations, ultimately establishing an internal control system truly tailored to the company’s own business characteristics.” She remembers those days when the team worked late into the night almost every day. “The hardest part wasn’t the technical work itself, but getting the operational departments to understand why they needed to cooperate with these ‘tedious’ processes. I remember one time, a product director looked at our internal control questionnaire and asked me, ‘Are you finance people just trying to make trouble for us?'”
“How did you answer?” I asked.
“I said, it’s not trouble, it’s a safety charm.” Kelly Wang smiled. “I gave him an analogy: going public is like driving on a highway; internal controls are the seatbelt. You might never need it, but if an accident happens, it saves your life.”
The analogy worked. Giant Network successfully listed on the NYSE in 2007, raising $887 million USD. In this intense battle, Kelly Wang deeply understood for the first time: real financial work isn’t about keeping books, but using numbers to safeguard corporate strategy.
Hong Kong Eagle: Breaking Boundaries from “Financial Execution” to “Business Advisory”
In 2010, three years after Giant’s listing, Kelly Wang made a decision that surprised her colleagues: leaving the thriving public company to join a consulting firm with only a few dozen people – Hong Kong Eagle Business Consulting Co., Ltd. (Eagle).
“Many people didn’t understand, they thought I was ‘downgrading’,” she says. “But I knew that at Giant, I had learned ‘how to get a big company’s books right’. What I didn’t know was ‘how to help a small company get its business processes in order’. I wanted to fill that gap.”
At Eagle, her title changed from Accounting Supervisor to Financial Manager, but the nature of her work transformed qualitatively. She no longer just stared at reports and vouchers; she stepped into clients’ business processes, mapping flowcharts, identifying bottlenecks, and developing solutions.
“I remember one client was in cross-border trade. Their ERP system had been live for two years, but their financial and operational data never matched,” Kelly Wang says. “We spent two weeks going through it node by node, from order entry to customs declaration, payment receipt, and settlement, finally discovering a mapping rule error in a specific field.”
She redesigned reporting tools for the client and provided functional configuration support within specific modules of the ERP system. After the project ended, the client’s financial reconciliation time was reduced from one day a week to half an hour.
“That was the first time I truly understood the meaning of ‘finance empowering business’,” she says. “Before, in a big company, I was a cog in a machine. At Eagle, I was the person holding the wrench, helping clients fix their machines. This ‘from-zero-to-one’ problem-solving approach later directly influenced my entrepreneurial style.”
This experience marked her first breakthrough, from a “bookkeeper” to a “business advisor”. She began to realize that the value of finance lies not in how precisely you calculate numbers, but in whether you can use those numbers to help clients make better business decisions.
Noah wealth: The Leap from “Business Advisor” to “Strategic Partner”
The real leap in Kelly Wang’s capabilities came during her four years as a Senior Financial Manager at Noah wealth management limited (Noah). In 2012, Kelly Wang joined Noah – a company that later became a benchmark in the wealth management industry and was listed on the NYSE. As a Senior Financial Manager, she led a team of 12.
“Those four years at Noah were the critical period for my transformation from a ‘financial executor’ to a ‘strategic enabler’,” she says. “I was no longer just concerned about whether reports were accurate; I started thinking: how can financial data help business units make decisions? How can tax planning create tangible value for the company?”
She gives an example: Noah was undertaking a complex group restructuring involving multiple subsidiaries and jurisdictions. She led her team in mapping out all cross-border equity structures and tax implications, ultimately designing a restructuring plan that saved the group over $5 million USD in taxes.
“That wasn’t simple tax planning,” she says. “It involved the differing tax laws of China, Hong Kong, and the US, as well as balancing the interests of various business units. You need to act like a diplomat, mediating between internal departments, while precisely calculating the financial consequences of each scenario.”
University of Edinburgh MBA: A “Cognitive Restart”
To further broaden her global perspective and elevate her business acumen, Kelly Wang made the resolute decision at the peak of her career to pursue a full-time MBA at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. Studying at a top international business school, she stepped outside domestic business frameworks, systematically absorbed global management concepts, and deeply integrated her hands-on experience in China, her UK professional credentials, and international business logic.
“Many colleagues didn’t understand, thinking I was giving up great career advancement,” she says. “But I knew my knowledge structure lacked the ‘business strategy’ piece. I could do the accounting, but I wanted to understand the business logic behind the numbers. How is a decision derived from a strategic level?”
During her year in Edinburgh, she systematically studied entrepreneurship, leveraged buyouts, strategic marketing, and other courses. More importantly, she began re-examining her past financial work through the lens of an MBA framework.
“During one class, the professor said, ‘Finance is the language of business, but strategy is the grammar.’ At that moment, it clicked for me – I had been doing ‘translation’ work, converting business activities into financial data. What the MBA taught me was how to use financial data to ‘write’ better business stories in return.”
This learning experience planted the most crucial seeds for her later entrepreneurial journey in Canada.
Canada: Reconstructing a Professional Service Landscape with “Leveraged Buyouts”
After graduation, Kelly Wang set her sights on Canada – a land combining mature market rules, strong cross-border business demand, and vibrant Chinese entrepreneurial energy. In 2017, Kelly Wang moved with her family to Toronto. Upon arriving, she didn’t rush into entrepreneurship. Instead, she first worked part-time as a Tax and Wealth Management Specialist at Canada Life, familiarizing herself with the Canadian tax system while building a local client base.
“Those two years were my ‘incubation period’,” she says with a smile. “I was like a sponge, absorbing Canadian tax law, payroll compliance, and estate trust rules like crazy. I was also observing: what is this market really missing?”
She identified a structural gap. Large firms primarily served big corporations with high fees; small firms, while flexible, often only handled basic tax filing and bookkeeping, lacking strategic service capabilities. The SMEs and cross-border clients who truly needed someone “knowledgeable about local rules, possessing an international perspective, and capable of providing top-level design” were left in the middle.
During this time, she also used her spare moments to complete all ACCA examinations and began preparing for her Canadian CPA certification.
“Many people asked me, how could you find the energy to study for certifications with such a busy work schedule?” She pauses. “It’s simple: I realized that if I only understood Chinese accounting standards, my ceiling was right there. To truly serve globally-oriented companies, I needed a globally recognized professional language.”
In 2021, she took her first step – founding NAVITAX Financial and Tax Services Inc., focusing on serving local small businesses in Canada. “I was very clear from the start,” she says. “I didn’t want to be a ‘general store’ that does everything. I wanted to be a ’boutique’ deeply focused on a specific niche.”
NAVITAX’s success built her confidence. In 2022, she seized an opportunity to acquire Ozden & Cheung CPA Professional Corporation – a firm with an existing base of cross-border clients. Through this acquisition, she integrated her expertise in cross-border tax compliance and US-Canada accounting standards differences with the existing team’s experience, creating a professional platform dedicated to serving multinational companies entering the Canadian market.
“This isn’t just simple ‘buy, buy, buy’,” she emphasizes. “Behind every acquisition, I had a complete integration plan: how to arrange personnel, how to optimize processes, how to connect with clients. It’s very similar to the group restructuring I did at Noah – the only difference is, back then I was orchestrating for others, now I’m orchestrating for myself.”
In 2025, she completed her third major move – founding Accountrust Business Services INC., focusing on estate trusts and wealth succession planning for high-net-worth families. “This is the area I know best and the direction I most want to deepen. Helping a family achieve intergenerational succession is more fulfilling than helping a company save on taxes.”
A Three-Legged Table, One Core Pivot Point
Today, Kelly Wang’s three firms each have distinct roles: NAVITAX serves local small businesses, its goal is “stability”; Ozden & Cheung serves multinationals, its goal is “connectivity”; Accountrust serves high-net-worth families, its goal is “longevity”.
“They seem independent, but they share the same core – the ‘Cross-Border Tax and Finance Strategy Methodology’ I have developed over twenty years,” she says. “This methodology encompasses not only a precise grasp of international financial standards, US GAAP, and Canadian tax law, but also a deep understanding of corporate strategy, family governance, and risk control.”
I ask her, from being a financial manager in China to owning three firms in Canada, what was the biggest challenge?
“A shift in mindset,” she answers without hesitation. “In China, I was executing professionally within a mature, large platform. In Canada, I was building a platform from scratch, defining standards, and cultivating a team. The former tested professional depth; the latter tested entrepreneurial mentality.”
She pauses, then adds, “But one thing remains the same: no matter which country you’re in, what truly allows you to go far is always your ability to solve problems – not the certificates you hold.”
Future Coordinates: Not a “Passerby”, but a “Bridge Builder”
As the interview neared its end, I asked her about her future plans.
“I don’t see Canada as the ‘final destination’,” she says. “I see it as a ‘transit hub’ – through here, I can connect the capital markets of North America, Europe, and Asia. My goal is to become that person who builds a bridge between Eastern and Western financial wisdom and business strategy.”
She revealed she has already registered for the US CPA exam, preparing for potential future business expansion. “Not because I need that piece of paper, but because I need to keep myself in a constant ‘learning zone’, maintaining sensitivity to change.”
Outside the window, Toronto’s skyline gradually blurred in the twilight. Kelly Wang put away her notebook and said with a smile: “Twenty years ago, when I first joined Giant Network, all I thought about was balancing every report. Later, at Eagle, I learned to help clients fix their machines. At Noah, I learned to build machines. When I came to Canada, I started teaching others how to operate machines. Looking back now, every single number in those reports points to a much larger world.”
From the banks of the Huangpu River to the shores of Lake Ontario, from the accounting room to the boardroom, from executor to architect – Kelly Wang’s story is one of a professional’s self-iteration, and a vivid example of “how to use a global vision to restructure local value creation.”（By Andy）
Company Name: Ozden & Cheung CPA professional corporate
Contact Person: Kelly Wang
Email: ousisyou@gmail.com
City: North York
Website: https://ozdencheung.com/management-team