If I hire an accounting firm, do I still need an auditor?

Yes. Bookkeeping and auditing are separate roles. A limited company's financial statements must be audited by a licensed auditor before filing. The accounting firm prepares the closing pack and coordinates the schedule, but does not audit its own work.

Can a small company just use accounting software itself?

You can record entries, but software does not own the deadline and does not decide which items are deductible. Withholding tax and expense documentation are where this usually breaks. If you do it yourself, have someone review before filing in the early months.

Can I change accounting firm mid-year without hurting the year-end close?

Yes. What makes it smooth is the handover: chart of accounts, balances up to the switch month, ledgers, copies of every return filed that year, and readable data files. Chase anything missing before the old engagement ends.

Does a company with no revenue still need bookkeeping?

Yes. The duty to file and to close the year attaches to being a registered company, not to having revenue. A company that has not started selling still closes and files on schedule.

If filings have been missed for years, where do I start?

Start by establishing which years were filed and which were not, then collect bank statements for every company account across the gap — in practice that is the most workable base for rebuilding. Then file the missing years in order.

Do I need to be in Bangkok to work with you?

No. We have real offices in Bangkok (Wang Thonglang) and Khon Kaen and work with clients nationwide with documents sent online. Where a visit to an authority is required, we arrange it according to the area and what the case needs.

Decision

Hire an accounting firm or keep the books in-house?

A criterion-by-criterion comparison built from the work a Thai company actually repeats every month: filings, year-end closing, continuity when staff leave, and where each route usually breaks.

Zura Labs & Business Hub Co., Ltd.

Short answer

Should a company hire an accounting firm or employ its own accountant?

If your document volume is still modest, you have no full-time accountant, and the core job is filing on time and closing the year, an accounting firm gives you continuity and someone whose job is the deadline. In-house fits when transactions run high daily, you need cost data as you go, and someone already supervises accounting internally. Both routes file the same returns required by the Revenue Department and the DBD. What differs is who owns the calendar and who absorbs it when a person leaves.

The filing set does not change with the route: VAT PP.30, withholding returns, social security and audited financial statements.
Financial statements must be audited by a licensed auditor before they are filed, whichever route you pick.
Documents have to flow every month; letting them pile up is the most common route to a multi-year backlog.
You can switch mid-year, but the chart of accounts, opening balances and copies of past filings must be handed over in full.

Accounting firm

An outside team records the books, files monthly, coordinates the auditor and warns you before deadlines.

In-house bookkeeping

Your own staff record and file, on your accounting software, supervised inside the company.

Side-by-side comparison

Criterion	Accounting firm	In-house bookkeeping	Usually suits
Who owns the filing calendar	The firm keeps the calendar and tells you which documents it needs by which date.	You own it; if the person holding the calendar is away or resigns, deadlines slip easily.	Accounting firm
Continuity when people change	The work sits with a team rather than one person, handed over on the same document set.	If only one person knows the file, a resignation can make the trail hard to reconstruct.	Accounting firm
Speed of day-to-day numbers	Reports arrive on an agreed cycle, which suits a monthly view.	Balances are visible in your own system at once, which suits daily cost control.	In-house bookkeeping
Document volume it handles	Works from a brand-new company with a few dozen documents up to several hundred a month.	Justifies a permanent hire once the volume genuinely fills one person's week.	Equal
Working with the auditor	The firm assembles the closing pack, answers the auditor's queries and keeps the order of work.	Your team prepares the closing pack and schedules the auditor itself.	Accounting firm
Knowledge of your own business	You must explain the business and its unusual items to an outside team from the start.	Internal staff see the context themselves and know which entry came from which job.	In-house bookkeeping
Handling a Revenue Department letter	Someone reads the letter, assembles the response pack and can attend on your behalf under a power of attorney.	You usually look for ad-hoc help if nobody has handled that kind of case before.	Accounting firm
Flexibility as you grow	Scope adjusts on contract cycles without expanding a permanent team at once.	You can scale, but that means more hires, more internal control and more management time.	Accounting firm

Who owns the filing calendar

Accounting firm: The firm keeps the calendar and tells you which documents it needs by which date.
In-house bookkeeping: You own it; if the person holding the calendar is away or resigns, deadlines slip easily.

Usually suits: Accounting firm

Continuity when people change

Accounting firm: The work sits with a team rather than one person, handed over on the same document set.
In-house bookkeeping: If only one person knows the file, a resignation can make the trail hard to reconstruct.

Usually suits: Accounting firm

Speed of day-to-day numbers

Accounting firm: Reports arrive on an agreed cycle, which suits a monthly view.
In-house bookkeeping: Balances are visible in your own system at once, which suits daily cost control.

Usually suits: In-house bookkeeping

Document volume it handles

Accounting firm: Works from a brand-new company with a few dozen documents up to several hundred a month.
In-house bookkeeping: Justifies a permanent hire once the volume genuinely fills one person's week.

Usually suits: Equal

Working with the auditor

Accounting firm: The firm assembles the closing pack, answers the auditor's queries and keeps the order of work.
In-house bookkeeping: Your team prepares the closing pack and schedules the auditor itself.

Usually suits: Accounting firm

Knowledge of your own business

Accounting firm: You must explain the business and its unusual items to an outside team from the start.
In-house bookkeeping: Internal staff see the context themselves and know which entry came from which job.

Usually suits: In-house bookkeeping

Handling a Revenue Department letter

Accounting firm: Someone reads the letter, assembles the response pack and can attend on your behalf under a power of attorney.
In-house bookkeeping: You usually look for ad-hoc help if nobody has handled that kind of case before.

Usually suits: Accounting firm

Flexibility as you grow

Accounting firm: Scope adjusts on contract cycles without expanding a permanent team at once.
In-house bookkeeping: You can scale, but that means more hires, more internal control and more management time.

Usually suits: Accounting firm

Choose an accounting firm when

The company is newly registered or has no full-time accountant yet.
You want a warning before a deadline, not a discovery after it.
There is a backlog from earlier years that someone needs to rebuild in order.
You want the auditor, the closing pack and the filings moving as one process.

Keep it in-house when

Transactions run high every day — retail, multi-branch restaurants, manufacturing.
You need daily cost figures to price work and control stock.
A manager who can read statements already supervises internal control.
You can absorb the hiring, training and replacement cycle.

The details in one place

Key facts

Filed every month: VAT return (PP.30) for VAT-registered companies, withholding tax returns, and social security contributions once you have employees.
Done once a year: Closing the books, an audit by a licensed auditor, then filing with the Revenue Department and the DBD on their schedule.
If a month has no activity: A VAT-registered company still files on schedule; skipping because there was no activity is a common misunderstanding.
Penalties and surcharges: Set by the authorities under the law. We help assemble and explain the file; we do not promise they will be waived.
Where we actually sit: Bangkok (Wang Thonglang) and Khon Kaen, serving clients nationwide with documents sent online.
Handover when you switch: You should receive the chart of accounts, opening balances, ledgers, copies of filed returns and data files in a readable format.

Where this usually goes wrong

Assuming a month without sales needs no VAT return, which turns into a run of missed filings.
Piling receipts up for one year-end delivery, leaving in-year numbers useless for decisions.
Switching providers without asking for opening balances and filed copies, forcing a full-year rebuild.
Taking company money into a personal bank account, which makes entries hard to separate and explain.
Not flagging unusual items such as director loans or overseas income to whoever keeps the books.

Questions we are asked about this choice

If I hire an accounting firm, do I still need an auditor?: Yes. Bookkeeping and auditing are separate roles. A limited company's financial statements must be audited by a licensed auditor before filing. The accounting firm prepares the closing pack and coordinates the schedule, but does not audit its own work.
Can a small company just use accounting software itself?: You can record entries, but software does not own the deadline and does not decide which items are deductible. Withholding tax and expense documentation are where this usually breaks. If you do it yourself, have someone review before filing in the early months.
Can I change accounting firm mid-year without hurting the year-end close?: Yes. What makes it smooth is the handover: chart of accounts, balances up to the switch month, ledgers, copies of every return filed that year, and readable data files. Chase anything missing before the old engagement ends.
Does a company with no revenue still need bookkeeping?: Yes. The duty to file and to close the year attaches to being a registered company, not to having revenue. A company that has not started selling still closes and files on schedule.
If filings have been missed for years, where do I start?: Start by establishing which years were filed and which were not, then collect bank statements for every company account across the gap — in practice that is the most workable base for rebuilding. Then file the missing years in order.
Do I need to be in Bangkok to work with you?: No. We have real offices in Bangkok (Wang Thonglang) and Khon Kaen and work with clients nationwide with documents sent online. Where a visit to an authority is required, we arrange it according to the area and what the case needs.

Keep going from here

Zura Labs & Business Hub Co., Ltd.Content reviewed on 21 September 2026

Bangkok office: 61 Soi Lat Phrao 95 (Prangthip), Khlong Chao Khun Sing, Wang Thonglang, Bangkok 10310

Khon Kaen office: 680/45 Na Mueang Road, Nai Mueang, Mueang Khon Kaen, Khon Kaen 40000

Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00 (ICT)

098-897-9292 LINE OA @ZURA contact@zura.co.th

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