Acclime review: Employer of Record and corporate services in China
A Hong Kong-headquartered corporate-services group, built since 2019 through more than fifty acquisitions, whose China business combines the former LehmanBrown accountancy, 1421 Consulting and Fiducia with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. It publishes line-item EOR pricing, which is rare, and brings a PCAOB-registered audit practice to the table. We scored it on our eight criteria.
The corporate-services choice: strongest on accounting and audit, transparent on EOR fees, pricier than the platforms.
Acclime was founded in Hong Kong in 2019 by Martin Crawford, formerly chief executive of Vistra, and has assembled a partner-led group of more than 2,000 professionals across 18 Asia-Pacific markets by acquisition. In China that means the former LehmanBrown International Accountants, founded in 2001 and merged in 2021 with around 200 staff, plus 1421 Consulting Group in Beijing and Fiducia Management Consultants, and a Shanghai team drawn from R&P China Lawyers’ corporate services arm. The result is a firm that can register your WFOE, keep its books to IFRS or US GAAP, audit it under PCAOB registration, file its taxes and, through its PEO and EOR service, employ your staff on its own in-house entities while you decide. Its EOR pricing is published line by line, US$500 to onboard, US$500 a month for a local hire or US$1,000 for an expatriate, US$500 to offboard, with a deposit of two months’ payroll and work permits at US$3,500. That is two to five times the platform rates, and there is no G2 or Trustpilot record to weigh. Warburg Pincus agreed to invest in December 2025 at a reported valuation near US$1bn.
Choose Acclime if you want your China employment, accounting, audit and tax under one professional-services firm, expect to incorporate, and value transparent fees over the lowest fee. Look elsewhere if you are hiring one or two people and want the cheapest compliant route, or you want a platform with published ratings and integrations.
Who actually employs your staff: Acclime’s in-house Chinese entities
Acclime states that EOR staff are onboarded in its in-house local entities across the Asia-Pacific region, and its China business operates from Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the former LehmanBrown and 1421 footprint. The group has not published the name of the Chinese company that signs employment contracts, nor a current China headcount (more than 200 at the 2022 merger).
Credentials are stronger than most: the China practice is PCAOB registered, an ACCA Approved Employer at platinum level and an ICAEW authorised training employer, which speaks to the accounting side rather than to employment licensing. Ask for the business licence of the employing entity and the dispatch position for your city.
| Field | What we found |
|---|---|
| Employing entity | In-house Chinese entity; name not published |
| Offices | Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou; Hong Kong group HQ |
| Lineage | LehmanBrown (2001, merged 2021), 1421 Consulting (2020), Fiducia (2022), R&P corporate services team |
| Group | Founded 2019 by Martin Crawford; CEO Izzy Silva; 18 markets, 2,000+ professionals, 17,000+ clients |
| Investor | Warburg Pincus investment agreed 17 December 2025; completion pending at time of writing |
| Credentials | PCAOB registered; ACCA Approved Employer (platinum); ICAEW authorised training employer |
| Dispatch licence | Not published; ask |
Details from china.acclime.com, the Warburg Pincus announcement and merger coverage, read 24 October 2026. Ask for the business licence of the employing company and, where dispatch is used, the labour dispatch licence.
Eight criteria, the same for every provider
- Published line-item EOR pricing: US$500 onboarding, US$500 a month local or US$1,000 expat, US$500 offboarding, work permit US$3,500
- Full corporate-services stack in China: WFOE and RO formation, accounting, PCAOB-registered audit, tax, trademark, HR and EOR
- Offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou with a 200-plus China team at the 2022 merger
- Deep local lineage through LehmanBrown, 1421 Consulting and Fiducia
- Group scale and backing: 2,000+ professionals, 18 markets, Warburg Pincus investment agreed
- Two to five times the platform EOR rates; deposit of two months’ payroll
- Chinese employing entity not named; current China headcount not published
- No onboarding timeline published for EOR; WFOE quoted at three to six months
- No independent review-platform presence
- Partner-led firm, not a platform: no employee app or integrations described
Set up, account, audit, employ: a professional-services firm rather than a platform
Acclime’s China offer is the corporate-services stack: form the company, run its books and payroll, audit and file, protect the trademark, and employ staff through PEO or EOR before or alongside the entity. For a company that will have a WFOE and wants one firm accountable for all of it, that is the proposition.
Company formation and secretarial
WFOE, JV and RO registration, special licences, trademark registration, custodial and company secretarial, dissolution; quote only
Accounting, tax and audit
Bookkeeping, IFRS/US GAAP/SEC reporting, statutory and internal audit, internal controls, virtual CFO, tax advisory and compliance, M&A due diligence; quote only
HR, payroll and EOR
Payroll outsourcing, HR administration, PEO/EOR on in-house entities, immigration and visas; EOR US$500 a month local, US$1,000 expat, with US$500 onboarding and offboarding and a two-month deposit
What Acclime handles for a Chinese employee
| Obligation | Status | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Labour contract | Handled | Chinese-law contract on an in-house entity |
| Social insurance (five funds) | Handled | Registered and paid in the hire’s city; employer burden quoted at 28–40% |
| Housing fund | Handled | Registered and contributed at the city rate |
| Individual income tax | Handled | Monthly withholding and filing; IIT advisory content current to 2026 |
| Dispatch structure and 10% cap | Unverified | Not published; ask |
| Work permits and residence permits | Handled | Work permit US$3,500; dependent visa US$800 per applicant |
| Incorporation, accounting and audit | Core service | WFOE formation, bookkeeping, PCAOB-registered audit, tax |
What you actually pay for one Shanghai hire on RMB 30,000 a month
Acclime’s EOR fee for a local hire is US$500 a month, about RMB 3,600, plus US$500 to onboard and US$500 to offboard, with a deposit of two months’ payroll (reducible to one after KYC with more than three employees). Billing is in local currency.
| Line item (monthly) | RMB |
|---|---|
| Gross monthly salary | 30,000 |
| Employer pension (16%) | 4,800 |
| Employer medical incl. maternity (9%) | 2,700 |
| Unemployment and work injury (approx. 1%) | 300 |
| Housing fund (7%) | 2,100 |
| Acclime EOR fee (US$500 ≈ RMB 3,600) | 3,600 |
| Total monthly employer cost | ≈ 43,500 |
- Labour contract on an in-house entity, payroll and filings
- Social insurance, housing fund and IIT administration
- Partner-led HR support
- Onboarding and offboarding, US$500 each
- Work permit US$3,500; dependent visa US$800
- Deposit of two months’ payroll; incorporation and accounting on quote
Illustrative, Shanghai 2026 rates. One-off fees and the deposit are not in the monthly total.
If Acclime is not the fit
RemotePeople
Published price well below Acclime’s, recruitment and incorporation included, strongest ratings here.
Read our RemotePeople reviewMSA Asia
Smaller advisory firm with the same incorporation-payroll-EOR mix and lower published prices.
Read our MSA Asia reviewCIIC
The state-owned dispatch agency; default for representative offices and large dispatch programmes.
Read our CIIC reviewCommon questions about Acclime in China
Which company employs my staff with Acclime?
How much does Acclime charge for EOR in China?
Is Acclime an accounting firm or an EOR?
Who owns Acclime?
Not sure Acclime is the one?
Compare all fifteen providers on entity, dispatch structure, city coverage and loaded cost, or ask us which route fits your situation.
How this review was made
Scored on the same eight China criteria as every provider on this site. Facts from china.acclime.com, merger coverage and the Warburg Pincus announcement, read 24 October 2026. Acclime did not pay for this review and did not see it before publication.
Sources: china.acclime.com home, about and PEO/EOR pages · Warburg Pincus announcement, 17 December 2025 · WealthBriefingAsia and Mondaq on the LehmanBrown merger · EU SME Centre directory, read 24 October 2026.