According to the Department of Business Development (DBD) who control Thai accounting practices, there are a lot of complaints from SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises) about the poor services of accounting firms. The problems SMEs face are varied; such as getting a huge penalty tax after a tax audit, incorrect submitting of a tax payment after collecting from clients and making decisions without the approval or understanding of clients. The SMEs therefore invariably end up asking the DBD to recommend a good accounting firm.

The good news is that there are many reputable accountancy firms who can be identified by their ?Certificate of Quality Assurance? issued by the DBD.

In order to be issued with such certification, one must have passed certain compliance tests to prove that it is able to conduct its work to a high and reliable quality.
They must fulfill certain strict requirements:

The Accounting firm must provide accounting services to at least 30 clients.
The management should have and maintain at least one assistant or bookkeeper who holds a bachelor degree in accounting and works full-time at the firm.
The management should hold at least a bachelor?s degree in accounting.
The management should work full-time at the accounting firm.
The management should have at least 5 years experience of providing accounting services.
The firm is able to operate independently.
The firm maintains the professional skills of its staff.
The firm follows good accountancy practice.
The firm is inspected at the time of its membership application and at regular intervals during membership.

These measures are designed to guarantee a standard of expertise that will directly benefit the client. They also enable you to make a quick evaluation of your potential accounting partner.

Time is money. For any company it is more profitable to concentrate on their own core business and leave the figures to the experts.

For a small-to-medium-sized company it is even more profitable because keeping accounts yourself proves just too costly. Using a certified accountancy firm guarantees value for money and a certain level of expertise.

Sirirat C. is the Managing Director of NAT, the ISO 9001:2008 certified accounting firm. Call 076 375 699 www.thaiaccounting.com