To prepare your Thai company for its annual audit, start with a reconciled set of accounts, evidence for the closing balances and a named owner for every unresolved item. A folder full of receipts is useful, but it does not show whether the bank balance agrees, which invoices remain unpaid or what still needs explaining.
Use the checklist below to organise your year-end accounting documents and identify gaps before the audit begins. It is a practical starting point for a Thai limited company. Your accountant and auditor will adapt the requests to your activity, accounting standards and transactions.
Understand the three separate jobs
Closing the accounts, auditing the financial statements and making annual submissions involve different work:
- Year-end accounting: record the period's transactions, reconcile balances, review closing adjustments and prepare the financial statements.
- Statutory audit: the auditor examines the statements and supporting evidence and issues an audit opinion.
- Approval and filing: arrange the required company approval and submit the statements and applicable tax return, with evidence of submission and payment.
A Thai limited company's financial statements require examination and an opinion from a licensed auditor under section 11 of the Accounting Act. The statutory exemption for certain small registered partnerships does not extend to a limited company. Having no sales does not remove the limited company's annual audit requirement.
Agree who prepares, reviews, approves, submits and pays. An engagement for monthly bookkeeping does not automatically settle the scope or fee for annual work. See YPN's annual statutory audit service for the work to discuss.
1. Set the period, responsibilities and document cut-off
Before collecting the audit file, confirm:
- The accounting period: record its start and end dates. Do not assume every company closes on 31 December. A first period may be shorter; section 10 of the Accounting Act requires the first close within twelve months of the accounting start date.
- The starting position: identify the previous approved statements, closing trial balance and any adjustments carried into this year. For a new company, identify the opening records instead.
- The work still open: list uncompleted months, missing statements, unexplained balances and outstanding returns. Catch-up work needs its own scope and timetable.
- The handover dates: agree when the company supplies records, when the accountant provides the draft accounts and when the auditor needs the schedules.
- The people responsible: name a company coordinator, the accounting contact, the audit contact and the company approver. Identify who can authorise payments and submissions.
If you hold inventory, discuss the physical count and the auditor's requirements before the count takes place. Some evidence cannot be recreated by emailing a spreadsheet months later.
Document handover dates are working arrangements. Keep them separate from statutory approval and filing deadlines.
2. Build the year-end audit file
Create one index for the accounting period. For each relevant area, link the supporting records to a schedule and the corresponding trial-balance account. Mark an area as not applicable only after checking why.
| Area | Evidence to assemble | Check before handing it over |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting records | Trial balance, general ledger, chart of accounts and closing journal entries, with a clear version date. | The schedules and draft statements use the same ledger version; opening balances agree to the previous close. |
| Bank and cash | Statements for every company account, year-end reconciliations and records for cash or payment platforms used by the business. | Statement balances reconcile to the ledger; outstanding payments, receipts and transfers are listed and explained. |
| Customer balances | Receivables schedule by customer and invoice, sales documents, credit notes and relevant receipts after year-end. | The schedule agrees to the ledger; overdue, disputed or doubtful balances are flagged for review. |
| Supplier balances | Payables schedule, supplier invoices and statements, credit notes and relevant payments after year-end. | The schedule agrees to the ledger; missing invoices, duplicate entries and disputed amounts are identified. |
| Inventory, where relevant | Count sheets, stock movements and a valuation schedule, including damaged or slow-moving items. | Count differences and the basis of valuation are explained; the closing schedule agrees to the accounts. |
| Fixed assets | Asset register, purchase and disposal documents, and depreciation workings. | Opening assets, additions, disposals and closing values reconcile; items bought near year-end are identified. |
| Loans, capital and related parties | Agreements, repayment schedules, interest workings, capital records and balances involving directors, shareholders or group companies. | Each movement has an explanation and evidence; balances agree to the ledger and differences are recorded. |
| Accruals, prepayments and deposits | Schedules showing what each balance represents, the period covered and the supporting contract or calculation. | The accountant has reviewed the period allocation; an old balance is not carried forward without explanation. |
| Payroll, if you employ staff | Payroll summaries, payment records, applicable returns and contribution records, supplied through the agreed channel. | Payroll costs and outstanding liabilities reconcile to the books; differences between records and filings are explained. |
| Tax records | Applicable returns, withholding certificates, submission receipts, payment evidence and a schedule of tax balances. | The accountant has reconciled the records to the accounts and identified adjustments, credits or outstanding periods. |
| Significant contracts and changes | Major customer and supplier agreements, leases, amendments, relevant company resolutions and details of significant events after year-end. | The accounting and audit teams know which matters may affect the statements, estimates or disclosures. |
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This is an organising checklist, not an exhaustive auditor request list. A company with inventory, foreign-currency transactions, BOI-promoted activities or group-company balances may need additional schedules. A company without staff does not need a payroll file simply to complete the table.
Section 12 of the Accounting Act requires the person responsible for arranging the accounts to provide complete and correct supporting documents to the bookkeeper. Keep a record of what has been provided and what remains missing.
For ongoing records and reconciliations, see bookkeeping and reporting support. For the forms themselves, use our Thai tax forms guide rather than treating every return as applicable to your company.
3. Separate “received” from “checked”
Use four statuses: Missing, Received, Checked and Open question. A file can be received while its figures remain unreconciled. “Checked” in your preparation tracker means the stated preparation check is complete; it does not mean the auditor has accepted the item or finished the audit.
Copy the structure below into your shared tracker. Give every open item an owner and a target date.
| Item and period | Evidence reference | Owner | Status | Next action and target date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank reconciliation at year-end | Statement and reconciliation file | Assign a name | Choose a status | Explain each unresolved difference; set a date. |
| Closing customer balances | Receivables schedule and invoices | Assign a name | Choose a status | Identify disputed or overdue balances; set a date. |
| Annual tax reconciliation | Tax schedule and filing evidence | Assign a name | Choose a status | Resolve missing certificates or unexplained balances; set a date. |
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Keep the evidence reference precise enough for another person to open the right file. Record the account, period and amount where useful. Avoid labels such as “tax issue” without identifying the return or balance involved.
A practical example: a bill received after year-end
Suppose an invoice arrives in January for services described as relating to December. Do not decide its accounting period from the payment date alone. Give the accountant the invoice, contract, service period and delivery evidence so the treatment can be reviewed.
The tracker should show who is obtaining the evidence, which period is affected and whether an adjustment is proposed. When the treatment is settled, link the decision to the journal entry and updated schedule. This is a hypothetical example, not a transaction from a YPN client.
4. Review the file before the audit handover
Run these checks with the accounting team:
- Do the balances connect? The trial balance, supporting schedules and draft statements should reconcile. Explain differences rather than replacing one figure to make it match.
- Is the period complete? Look for missing months and transactions around the year-end. Ask about late invoices, credit notes, unrecorded liabilities and significant events after the closing date.
- Are the tax differences understood? Reconcile the books to applicable returns and certificates. Accounting figures and tax figures need not be identical, but differences should have a documented explanation and treatment.
- Can the open questions be followed? Each question needs an owner, evidence reference and next action. Ask the auditor to confirm any additional requests and their effect on the timetable.
Provide a dated version of the file. Keep a log of later adjustments so that an updated ledger, schedule and financial statement do not become three conflicting versions of the same accounts.
Decide what to do with the file
Use the following preparation check with your accountant and auditor. The categories describe the condition of the file, not an audit conclusion.
| Position | What it means | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to hand over | The core preparation checks are complete, the balances have support and the file versions agree. | Send the dated file and confirm the auditor's remaining requests. |
| Send with listed open questions | The core records and schedules are usable, but specific evidence or treatments still need review. Each question has an owner and target date. | Agree which work can begin and how the questions affect the timetable. |
| Resolve core gaps first | Core records are missing, a major balance cannot be reconciled, or the period and file versions are unclear. | Agree a recovery plan before treating the file as complete; ask the auditor what preliminary work is possible. |
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The useful question is whether another person can follow each balance back to its evidence and understand what remains unresolved. Sending an incomplete file silently creates a different problem from sending it with an explicit, agreed list of questions.
5. Track approval and filing to completion
The preparation sequence is: collect and reconcile records → prepare statements → complete audit work → obtain the required approval → make the applicable submissions. Annual tax work has its own deadline and should be planned alongside that sequence.
For a Thai limited company, section 11 of the Accounting Act sets the financial-statement filing deadline at one month after approval at the general meeting. Confirm the meeting requirements and timetable separately; receiving an audit report does not itself complete approval or filing.
The Revenue Department's corporate income tax guidance gives the standard PND50 annual return deadline as 150 days from the closing date of the accounting period. Track this tax deadline separately from company approval and financial-statement filing. Confirm the actual filing date, channel, applicable extensions and payment arrangements for your period.
Keep a completion record for each submission: the final document, the company approval, the submission acknowledgement and payment evidence where required. A draft return or an email saying “ready” is not evidence that a filing has been made.
Need help preparing your company's year-end?
Tell YPN your financial year-end, the last completed accounting month and the main records or balances still outstanding. We can discuss annual audit support, bookkeeping and reconciliation and business tax compliance, with the responsibilities, annual work and any catch-up fees confirmed in the engagement.