Businesses in Thailand and elsewhere are pinning their hopes on a widespread economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This recovery, though very real, does not guarantee renewed success for each company. Businesses must understand how markets have changed, and adapt quickly to those changes, in order to catch new opportunities as they arise.
In order for this adaptation to be successful, it is essential to maintain focus on core operations. Companies that divide their attention internally will inevitably find themselves sidetracked by other tasks and chores that are unrelated to their core business model. In such ways, the things that matter become lost in the shuffle, and the organisation loses all of its momentum.
Outsourcing remains the best solution to this issue, as it allows companies to focus their resources – most especially their time and attention – on innovation rather than paperwork. Based on our own data and client experience, outsourcing delivers the following benefits:
- 20-30% average annual cost savings
- 20-50% average labor arbitrage savings vs. pre-outsourced cost baseline
- 10-35% additional productivity and efficiency gains (average over 5 years)
These gains are especially significant in today’s tight economy, yet they are simply the product of important tasks done well. Our outsourcing services follow the approach outlined below, providing world-class administrative support so that our clients can achieve more in their core area of expertise.
Adaptation is a two-way street
The needs of our clients vary by size, structure, industry, level of sophistication, current back-end processes, and many other factors. At Grant Thornton in Thailand, we know that the more effectively we tailor our services to fit your precise needs, the more we can support your company’s effort to focus on its core operations.
Some businesses have their books well-organised, and only need light assistance in a few key areas. Others need or want the convenience of full back-end support. Whether your business can benefit most from a Shared Service Centre, Assisted or Virtual Captive arrangement, or a form of insourcing, our team can help. We walk our clients through the various options, providing exactly the resources needed to get the job done right – and then get to work, taking the weight of non-core processes off of their shoulders.
Types of support
Our team provides extensive assistance in a variety of areas, including but not limited to the types of accounting projects listed below.
- Finance and accounting services, including:
- Monthly accounting
- Organisation of vouchers and receipts
- Data entry for general accounting
- Maintenance of the general ledger
- Preparation of appropriate tax payments
- Performance of bank and balance sheet account reconciliations
- Preparation of statements and payment proposals
- Year-end closing
- Coordination with external auditor during year-end audit
- Preparation of annual financial statements, as well as the Annual Summary Financial Report for the Ministry of Commerce
- Submission of audited financial statements and supporting documents to the Ministry of Commerce
- Payroll services, including:
- Monthly payroll
- Calculation of withholding tax, social security fund contributions, and provident fund contributions for employees
- Comparison of payments from the previous month, factoring in new and departed employees
- Calculation of payroll and personal income tax, with client notification and approval
- Preparation of monthly payroll slips
- Submission of social security forms to Social Security Office
- Preparation of provident fund report and submission to provident management company
- Year-end closing services
- Preparation of withholding tax certificates for all staff
- Preparation and lodgment of annual salary withholding tax returns for all employees
- Submission of annual reports to Workmen Compensation Fund
The services listed above represent just some of the ways our outsourcing team assists clients. Upon request, we also provide insourcing services to fill temporary accounting needs. For example, a client may require an AR accountant to join their staff for 1 year, and a Senior Accounting Manager to join their staff for 6 months. We are pleased to fulfill requests of this nature, and can provide our staff members to work on location alongside the client’s own team.
To complete each task fully and accurately, we first seek to understand the current status of each task, the source of any concerns or confusion that the client has previously dealt with in related areas, and whether there are any additional needs that our team can assist with. The better we understand the challenges your organisation faces, the more useful we can be.
Convenience leads to freedom
As specialists in accounting and related fields, we follow best practices and use advanced software to deliver clear and accurate results. Very often, the insights generated by our work can also identify opportunities to improve efficiency elsewhere as well.
Yet the value of our support services goes well beyond the competent completion of every task we take on. We also save time for our clients that would otherwise be spent recruiting their own dedicated staff members for each set of tasks, hiring and onboarding them, selecting and setting up the software they need to work with, training them where necessary, supervising, coaching, and evaluating them, worrying about how to find replacements if they leave, and carrying out countless other duties.
The convenience of avoiding these obligations is only half the story. In a world without outsourcing, each of the above tasks would represent a loss of valuable time and resources for managers – greatly reducing their ability to lead your team swiftly forward in the areas of your business that add value for your customers.
Because time and attention are limited, tailored support from an expert outsourcing team becomes far more than a nice-to-have. Help from our specialists can provide real freedom for your key personnel, letting them focus entirely on the task of improving your core products and services.
In the post-pandemic business environment, few things are more important than this ability to stay agile, adapt quickly to changing market conditions, and catch new opportunities as they arise. The company that tries to do everything will end up doing very little, while the company that sticks to its specialties – and benefits from the specialties of others – can become the recognised leader in their field.
With the economic recovery starting to gain momentum, now is the time to find your focus once again. For more on how our outsourcing team can set you on the right path, get in touch with Grant Thornton in Thailand today.
