Deloitte Thailand gears up for AEC

Subhasakdi Krishnamra, managing partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos – known as Deloitte Thailand – is convinced that the firm is capable of offering services that serve the future growth that will be brought about by the AEC.
The AEC will result in clients wishing to open up new markets in foreign countries, as well as a large number of new foreign investors entering Thailand, he said, adding that Deloitte realises that regulations on accounting and taxation vary from one country to another.
Therefore, a new line of service will be added under the umbrella of audit service – to provide advice as well as services on technical accounting, including preparation for the enforcement of new Thai and international accounting standards, such as IFRS/TFRS implementation; financial reporting advisory services; IPO readiness services; due diligence relevant to financial audit; and assurance report on sustainability.
To respond to this fast-growing demand, Deloitte Thailand has launched a new Integrated Services unit to help clients manage back-office work, with services including accounting, payroll, taxation and staff secondment.
Deloitte is also studying the possibility of expanding its business into Cambodia and Laos, having already opened an office in Myanmar last year.
“The most important thing is to ensure we have a team of experts to materialise clients’ business and protect their benefits,” said Subhasakdi.
Personnel exchange
Deloitte Thailand is looking for more personnel exchange from Southeast Asia, in addition to an international exchange programme that has been run for many years.
Deloitte plans to exchange more than 50 professional staff among Deloitte Southeast Asia. This will strengthen the company’s professionals’ skills, experience and network, which are invaluable to intra-and inter-regional business decisions, he said.
“We are now confident that our regional network is strong enough to move forward for AEC challenges. The next step, under the Deloitte Talent Programme, is cooperation with Deloitte practices to share knowledge, skills and expertise to enhance Deloitte professionals’ expertise and qualifications. Deloitte Thailand will continue to focus on developing our professionals to become a standard of excellence,” said the managing partner.
While major economic players like the US, China, Japan and Europe have yet to recover from the current economic recession, the situation should not deteriorate, he said.
Subhasakdi added that Thailand had recently been hit hard by natural disaster and political problems. However, the Thai economy enjoyed continued growth, partly thanks to foreign investors’ high confidence in Thai competitiveness compared to that in neighbouring countries.
In fact, the Kingdom has successfully attracted a large number of external investors and interested entrepreneurs to initiate many new business ventures, as well as to achieve a business emergence, he said.
In some cases, Thailand serves as an excellent base for further expansion into neighbouring countries, so that companies can prepare for the implementation of the AEC in 2015. This assures that Thailand is likely to see continued economic growth despite multiple challenging factors from both inside and outside the country, he said.
“Although the water-management plan is not so clear, we see a number of Japanese investors returning to Thailand. Therefore, the government’s Bt350-billion [water] investment projects will surely boost the country’s economy and provide a great contribution to the public benefit – as long as transparency is fully guaranteed.
“Meanwhile, Thailand should come up with better policies on investment in order to increase its own competitiveness compared to other rising neighbouring countries,” Subhasakdi said.
In the past year, Deloitte Thailand enjoyed 10-per-cent business growth, half of it coming from the auditing service.
Advisory services proved a great success with up to 20-per-cent growth, indicating successful penetration in different markets, he said.