We started the making of category to discuss the little things we came across when trying to build a business in Thailand folks. U can have a bar, a restaurant, an import company or whatever but starting, running and making moneny on a business in Thailand is not easy. Just the normal things that we all take for granted in our native lands can be quite a chore in Thailand. I will never regret the experience but sometimes I have to share some of the nuttiness with others. Right now we are working on Project #2 which will will reveal at another time but I thought I would share an experience I had recently while trying to interview accountants.
We posted a job opening on one of the popular Thai Job sites. The reason for this is that it costs about a 1/10 of what it costs to post in the traditional newspaper. However the resumes and email tend to arrive in Thai so the best I can do is find the phone number and call the job seeker. My Thai is improving and I am usually able to make an appointment in Thai to meet the job seeker for an in person interview. Not too bad.
One of the last interviews we conducted at Delifrance, easy location to explain as a meeting point, was with a female looking for a job as a full time accountant. Her english is not great and coupled with my Thai the interview was proving to be a little difficult when it came to some serious details about previous jobs. She then stopped me to say her brother was close by and could help as a translator. Okay cool.
Brother came by and immediately started a sales job. My sister can do anything. Don’t worry. U should hire her. Okay. Slow down a bit. He was almost coming across as her pimp or something and all I wanted was some help getting some past employment details. We got through some of that and asked some more questions and then basically said we would call her back if needed. I could tell they were a little bummed out that we did not move to offer her a job on the spot but we just could not feel too good about her references.
She had no references from previous employers and it appeared that she did not last too long at each job. Her references however were the most telling - flaw. They consisted of her sister, her fiance and her brother. Thai families are pretty close but I think that having only your family for career references is not a good recipe for success. Gotta make some more phone calls…
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Most definitely get prior employer references for an accountant position. This a money handling/ decision making on accounts position for your businesses. Whether they be an experienced bookeeper or degree’d auditor/tax person that you need as a financial officer; bloody better get past references.
Go with a reputable accountant temp agency like Robert Half dot com etc. but a Thai agency with thats liscensed, bonded and insured. Never entrust someone else with your tax and finacial books 100%.
Learn a software application like Quickbooks etc and then if you don’t want to do tedious account entries/ postings, just hire bookeeper part time from agency services. Recent college grads and cashiers dont cut the mustard when cooking the books/ Naa ! what I really mean is getting your business in order, paying taxes, payroll, inventory mangement, projections, revenues and expenses, let alone COST of SALES etc.
Warning to all ! use a accounting software applications and use the accounting temp agency that knows and proves its finacial warewithall. Its your finacial ass in stake and no one elses. Many business dont profit they lose their asses cause of poor cash flow management. If you manage to break even your lucky. Lets start with BARS in Thailand ? how much is not reported on your own financial books. By financial books I mean your own database…not for taxes or your bankers, your own money $$$ analysis. Get a good accounting software package. PeachTree, QuickBooks etc and at first is tedious but you will get bigger picture of your cash flow management later on and do account for under-reportings. Keep a CD ROM backup in your safekeeping and not on the companies pc and thats REAL-TIME financial accounting.
View all comments by RJG
based on what you guys have posted so far on this blog, you seem to take the major hurdles of doing business here in stride. that will be especially important when it comes to hiring an actual accountant - i know because we’ve gone through the process and accountants are in especially high demand (Thailand recently passed an accounting act requiring all companies, public or private, to have an accountant in charge of the books, among other things).
not only are accountants in high demand, they are particularly flaky, even by Thai standards. you will have people who arrange to come for an interview, but don’t show up (or show up three hours late without any rational explanation), people with very suspicious work histories (e.g. gaps of two or three years in employment history), no references, etc. in short, be ready for a few headaches and a long tedious process (unless you happen to be very lucky).
View all comments by kallah