How do I change accountant in Thailand without losing my books?
The records are legally yours, must be kept at your place of business, and must be retained for at least five years, so what you need from the outgoing firm is the Thai ledger and the supporting documents, not a PDF of last month’s report. Time the switch to a month end, get the incoming firm’s ผู้ทำบัญชี registered against your company at the DBD, and do not cancel the old engagement until the current month’s filings are acknowledged.
Last reviewed 21 September 2026
Most of the fear around this is misplaced. People imagine the books belong to the firm holding them. They do not, and the Accounting Act is unusually clear about it.
Where the records legally have to be
Section 13 requires the accounts and the supporting documents to be kept at the place of business, unless the Chief Accounts Inspector has given permission to keep them elsewhere. Section 14 requires them kept for not less than five years from the date the accounts are closed, extendable to seven for certain businesses by announcement. Both duties are on the company. Not on the firm.
The handover list
Ask for these by name. A firm that supplies all of it is behaving normally; a firm that offers a summary instead is not.
- General ledger and trial balance for every open year, in Thai, in a format that can be imported rather than only printed.
- The VAT reports and the filed PP 30 returns with payment receipts.
- The filed PND 1, 3 and 53 returns with receipts.
- The filed PND 50 and PND 51 returns with receipts.
- Signed financial statements and audit reports for each year, plus the DBD e-Filing acknowledgements.
- The shareholder list บอจ.5 as filed.
- Fixed asset register, with the depreciation basis used.
- Bank statements and the reconciliations behind each period close.
- Chart of accounts, and where entries use account codes, the Thai translation manual section 21 requires you to keep.
- Social security filings and the employee register.
The registration step people forget
Your ผู้ทำบัญชี is a named individual who notifies the DBD of each business whose accounts they keep, through the e-Accountant system, within 30 days of starting. A switch is therefore two moves, not one: the outgoing bookkeeper comes off your company and the incoming one goes on. If only half of that happens, the DBD record says something that is not true, and the person it is untrue about is not you but it is your company on the record.
The order to do it in
- Pick a month end, ideally one that is not a quarter or year end, and preferably not the month PND 51 falls in.
- Agree in writing with the outgoing firm which month is their last filing, and get that month’s acknowledgements before anything else moves.
- Get the handover list above, physically or as files, and check the Thai ledger opens and balances before you sign off.
- Have the incoming firm register their ผู้ทำบัญชี against the company and confirm the outgoing one has been removed.
- Settle the final invoice. Argue about it afterwards if you must.
One thing changing accountant does not change: the audit. That is a separate engagement with a licensed CPA and it carries on unless you change it too. If the trigger for all this was the fee rather than the service, it is worth seeing what firms actually charge before you move, and what a monthly fee is supposed to include. Then compare three quotes side by side.
Related questions
- What is actually included in a Thai bookkeeping fee, and what almost never is?
- Who is legally responsible if my accountant files something wrong?
- Do I still need a Thai accountant if I use Xero or QuickBooks?
Sources
- Accounting Act B.E. 2543, sections 12, 13, 14, 15, 19 and 21 (Thai, full text)
- Accounting Act B.E. 2543, English translation (Samui for Sale law texts)
- DBD e-Accountant system (bookkeeper registration and notification)
- DBD, Business Accounting Supervision Division: registration, CPD and caseload rules
This is general information about how a filing works, not accounting or tax advice for your company. Confirm anything that matters against the official notice or with your accountant. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.