Accounting for Agencies & Consultants in Bangkok

Map the transactions before choosing the package

The first discussion should identify the systems, people and evidence behind each flow. Agree which records the business supplies, how often they are delivered and which exceptions require management approval. A clear transaction map is more useful than a package based only on the number of bank entries.

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Sales, collections and revenue cut-off

Create a contract register showing the legal customer, service scope, billing milestones, delivery evidence, currency and payment terms. Distinguish an invoice date from the accounting conclusion about revenue recognition. Track work performed but not billed, customer advances and disputed invoices in separate schedules. Changes in scope should be approved before additional work is absorbed into a project with no commercial record.

For Thai VAT, registration, tax invoices and return obligations must be reviewed separately from the management report. The Revenue Department VAT guidance and tax-invoice provisions provide the official starting points. Use the dedicated VAT guide for the wider filing workflow.

Costs, balances and operating controls

Agree whether project reporting includes staff time, subcontractors, software, travel and an allocation of overhead. For media buying or other client-funded costs, review whether the agency is acting as principal or agent rather than applying one treatment to every recharge. Retain the original supplier documentation and customer agreement. Owner expenses, shareholder funding and business expenditure should not be mixed simply because they were paid from the same card.

Payroll, responsibilities and approvals

A payroll file and a project-cost report serve different purposes. Payroll records establish amounts owed and paid; the project system explains how employee time and related costs are allocated. Agree a practical timesheet or allocation process without pretending it is a statutory payroll record. Contractor classification, cross-border payments and foreign-worker permissions require separate review based on the actual arrangements.

Connect this work with payroll administration and, where relevant, work-permit preparation. Payroll processing does not replace management approval or employment-law review.

A monthly close that management can use

Review aged receivables with the account managers, collect missing withholding certificates, reconcile customer deposits and confirm unbilled work. Check subcontractor invoices against approved work and record costs relating to the period even when the payment is later, subject to the accounting policy and evidence. Explain large project adjustments to management rather than allowing them to appear as unexplained changes in monthly profit.

The final handover should include the agreed financial statements, key reconciliations, an outstanding-items list and the status of relevant submissions and payments. Keep evidence of both filing and payment. Explain any estimates or unresolved records so the owner understands what can safely be concluded from the figures.

Reports and indicators worth discussing

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Define the calculation and comparison period before judging performance. Management reporting and cash-flow planning can be included in the agreed scope; it should not be assumed to come with every bookkeeping quotation.

An illustrative workflow

Illustrative scenario: an agency bills a deposit for a three-month campaign, pays a production supplier in the first month and delivers work over several stages. A project schedule connects the deposit, milestones, supplier cost and remaining obligations. The accounting policy then determines the reporting treatment; the bank movements alone do not provide the answer.

Documents for an initial review

• Customer contracts, proposals and approved change orders
• Invoice register, collection history and withholding certificates
• Subcontractor contracts and accepted deliverables
• Payroll records and agreed project-allocation data
• Client-funded spending schedules and cross-border transaction details

Provide one representative month and identify known gaps rather than sending an unstructured archive first. If the business is changing providers, use the accountant handover guide. If several periods are incomplete, start with catch-up bookkeeping so historical work and ongoing monthly work can be priced separately.

Agree the scope, outputs and fee

A quotation should specify the entities and locations covered, source systems, transaction complexity, payroll population, reporting frequency, tax-return responsibilities and annual work. It should also state who collects missing evidence, what is excluded, how additional work is approved and who controls payments. Do not infer an audit, a licence review or unlimited historical corrections from the phrase “full accounting”.

Use the accounting package comparison to prepare the discussion. The document checklists and working-paper templates help organise the information before the engagement begins.

Frequently asked questions