Why Do Corporate Service Providers Need More Than Incorporation?

Corporate service providers are often associated with helping businesses incorporate, but the conversation on Borderless Ambitions presents a broader role. The episode explores how CSPs can support businesses through compliance, operations, referrals and business relationships as their needs develop. 

Host Vanessa Ho speaks with the three co-founders of CSPN: Kang Yu Phang, who also runs Singapore-based AML-CFT consultancy UP Compliance; Darryl Wong, who runs AI accounting firm Daisy Consultants, AI academy Nexius Academy and agency Nexius Labs [GAP: Darryl’s market is not stated in the transcript]; and Eldred Wee, founder of Edenity, which works on mergers and acquisitions for Singapore SMEs. 

Their discussion focuses on why a professional network can matter for CSPs, how practitioners are using AI and why greater use of technology does not remove professional responsibility. 

Key takeaways 

• Kang Yu describes CSPN as a platform that can bring together CSPs of different sizes, scales and areas of expertise. 
• Darryl says CSPs already refer clients to one another when a client does not fit their size or industry. 
• Eldred describes CSPs evolving beyond compliance work into business advisory and business partnerships. 
• Darryl says professional service providers currently retain responsibility rather than transferring risk to AI. 
• Kang Yu says CSPN provides a space for members to learn about AI, compliance and M&A.

Watch the full podcast here:

Why was CSPN created? 

CSPN was created to bring corporate service providers together in a setting where they can learn from one another and connect with other parts of the industry. Kang Yu says Singapore has about 3,200 CSPs of varying sizes, scales and areas of expertise, making a common platform potentially useful. 

Eldred traces the original idea to a desire to help smaller players that he felt needed more support. Rather than practitioners operating individually, CSPN would create events and a community around corporate services. 

Kang Yu adds another dimension to that purpose. Drawing on his background as a former ACRA regulator who regulated corporate service providers for close to 10 years, he describes CSPN as a link between practitioners and the wider professional environment. 

“I do see CSPN as like a bridge to connect with the government, the professional bodies, even those service providers who serve ancillary functions to CSPs together.” — Kang Yu, 00:06:29 

That gives the network a role beyond putting people in the same room: its founders describe it as a place where different forms of expertise and different parts of the CSP ecosystem can connect. 

What makes a professional CSP community viable? 

For Darryl, the starting point is practical: members want to understand the return they receive from participating. He says many people in the community are accountants and that ROI is their primary consideration. 

“So the number one thing they’re looking at is ROI.” — Darryl, 00:06:52 

The founders argue that bringing providers from the same industry together does not necessarily make the community purely competitive. Darryl says the industry is wide, individual CSPs have their own niches, and referrals already happen when clients do not fit a provider’s size or industry. 

Eldred similarly describes CSPs as having different service, industry and client preferences. In his account, one provider might have a relationship with a client that requires capabilities another CSP can provide, creating room for referral partnerships. 

Trust matters within that referral model. Darryl says knowing one another through the community helps members understand that they are referring a client to a trusted partner.

The practical value, then, comes from making existing relationships and referral behaviour more deliberate. 

How can CSPs support businesses beyond incorporation? 

The episode presents the CSP relationship as one that can extend beyond initial company setup. Kang Yu says more professional and coordinated CSPs can provide businesses with more timely reminders and better advice. 

He links that need to changes in the compliance environment, citing the Corporate Service Providers Act in 2024 and regulations in 2025 as introducing strict compliance requirements for CSPs.

Eldred argues that the relationship can extend further into business advice and financing. He recounts an example in which a CSP told him that they had invested in one of their clients after seeing the client’s revenue and profit over several years and knowing that the client had already maxed out its bank loan.

For Eldred, that example shows how a CSP can move from compliance work toward becoming a trusted business advisor and partner. Vanessa also says she has met CSPs with former venture capital and private equity backgrounds who introduce clients to investors, including foreign businesses coming to Singapore. 

How is AI changing the work of corporate service providers? 

The speakers describe AI as becoming part of practical CSP operations rather than remaining separate from day-to-day work. Darryl says he has adopted AI since 2018 and gives an example of AI being used to prepare financial statements and identify an error from the previous year. 

He also describes how setting up a separate business to work on AI led to technology being brought back into Daisy Consultants. After research and development, the technology was tested in real-world use cases, contributing to what Darryl describes as an “AI native accounting firm.” 

Kang Yu describes smaller operational applications too. He says he uses AI for tasks including managing his mailbox and helping prioritise which areas require attention first.

For Kang Yu, the significance is that using technology for these tasks no longer necessarily requires coding expertise. 

“So right now, technology has actually evolved to a point whereby even the non-tech folks can use technology to improve their work, even their lives.” — Kang Yu, 00:26:53 

The examples in the conversation range from financial-statement preparation to administrative prioritisation, reflecting the different ways the founders are already using AI in their own work.  

Does using AI change who is responsible for the work? 

According to Darryl, not yet. His current position is that professional service providers should not transfer risk to AI and should continue taking responsibility for the work delivered to clients. 

Darryl says that if a client identifies an error, his firm will take responsibility for it. Kang Yu approaches the issue through a compliance lens, describing how he questioned Darryl about the information sources, adequacy and currency of an AI system used for customer screening when they first met. [See FLAG LIST: compliance and liability-related statements.] 

“I think the current stance that we have is that we do not offload risks to AI yet. We still, as professional service providers, we still take on that risk until one day AI agents are a separate legal entity.” — Darryl, 00:30:00 

Kang Yu condenses the principle at the end of the episode: 

“For CSPs adopting AI, you can outsource the work, but you can’t outsource the responsibility.” — Kang Yu, 00:33:39 

AI may change how the work is carried out, but the speakers do not present it as removing accountability from the professional providing the service. 

What does CSPN want members to get from the network? 

CSPN is focused on CSPs as members, while also connecting with partners, professional bodies and vendors that serve the sector. Eldred describes its role as providing a space where practitioners can learn AI, compliance and M&A together. 

That learning component connects several strands of the episode. Darryl brings practical AI use cases, Kang Yu contributes a compliance perspective and Eldred brings an M&A lens.

Eldred also argues that the fundamentals remain human despite the pace of technological change. His view is that people still need connection and community, which is part of what makes CSPN important to him. 

The episode therefore frames the future of the corporate service provider around both technology and relationships: practitioners learning new systems while continuing to build the trust, connections and professional responsibility that their work requires.