What Should a Salary Reflect? Qualifications, Licences and Performance

We recently hired two experienced accountants at LAN Business Consulting. We paid each of them what they asked for. One has years of solid, hands-on accounting experience. The other is also experienced and studied accounting at university. In their contract, we agreed that once they passed their exam and became a registered bookkeeper, their monthly salary would increase with an agreed amount. They passed, they registered, and the increase was applied as agreed.

A few weeks in, the two of them got talking about salaries. Then one came to my management team and asked why someone with an accounting degree and a bookkeeping licence was on a similar salary to someone without them, especially as a licensed bookkeeper is personally responsible for the accounts they sign off.

I understand where the question comes from, but I don’t agree with the thinking behind it.

This goes well beyond accounting. I see the same conversation in marketing, sales, legal, HR and IT. One person has a degree, a certificate or a licence, and a colleague without one is doing the same job just as well, sometimes better. I’m using accounting as the example because the law is very clear about who can sign what, and that makes it easier to separate what the law requires from what the business actually needs.

The difference between an accountant, a registered bookkeeper and a CPA

Let’s start with who is who in accounting. An accountant is anyone doing accounting work. You don’t need a licence to record transactions, reconcile accounts, prepare VAT and withholding tax filings or produce management reports. Some of the best accountants I have worked with learned everything on the job.

A registered bookkeeper takes legal responsibility for a company’s books under the Accounting Act. Every Thai limited company must have one. This can be someone you employ, or an external bookkeeper provided by an accounting firm. A registered bookkeeper can act for a maximum of 100 companies a year and must complete at least 12 hours of continuing professional development every year, including at least one hour on ethics.

A CPA is an auditor. They examine a company’s financial statements at year end and sign the audit opinion. It takes an accounting degree, a demanding set of exams and thousands of hours of supervised experience to qualify.

The accountant and the bookkeeper can be the same person. The auditor cannot. A CPA must be independent and cannot audit accounts they prepared or signed as bookkeeper.

Someone without a licence cannot sign. That doesn’t stop them from doing the work and doing it very well.

New Thai registration rules for bookkeepers from January 2026

From 1 January 2026, new bookkeepers need a recognised accounting qualification, membership of the Federation of Accounting Professions and a pass in the new online e-Accountant exam before they can register. Existing bookkeepers don’t have to requalify, but everyone must meet the ongoing requirements, including confirming their status every year and completing the CPD hours.

This means it is harder to become a registered bookkeeper than it was a year ago. I think that’s a good thing for the profession, and something to keep in mind if you are recruiting.

How we recognised the bookkeeping licence

The licence was recognised before our new team member even started. We wrote an increase into their employment contract at signing and applied it as soon as they were officially registered. On top of that, LAN pays the annual cost of keeping the registration and gives them time to do the required training during working hours.

What a licence is worth compared to what a person contributes

I always ask what something would cost to buy elsewhere. Most businesses can get an accounting firm to provide the registered bookkeeper function for less than one month’s salary a year. That tells me what the licence is worth on the market.

What I can’t buy from outside is someone who understands our business, spots a problem before it becomes expensive, helps train others and makes the whole team better. That is what I pay more for, whether the role is in accounting, sales or anywhere else.

Personal liability and why clean books matter

Yes, a registered bookkeeper carries personal liability. But how much risk that really is depends on the employer.

If a business cuts corners, asks for creative numbers or pays under the table, signing the books is a real risk, and I would understand anyone wanting extra money for it. If a business keeps clean books, the risk is small. The bookkeeper’s protection is to do the work properly and flag anything that isn’t right.

LAN does not pay bribes, and every member of our team signs a declaration to that effect. Ethics isn’t an extra job that comes with a licence. It applies to all of us, whatever our role. As an employer, my job is to make the role safe, not to pay danger money for risks I created.

Qualifications and experience in our own team

I have been on both sides of this. We once had a CFO with an impressive education who simply didn’t deliver. Today we are set up very differently. Our new CFO handles the big things: planning, reviews and support across the business. Our team of bookkeepers is led by someone with 15 years of hands-on experience from Australia and excellent leadership skills. They make the people around them better every day.

I’m not saying qualifications don’t matter. Every role needs the right mix of knowledge, experience and delivery. A certificate on its own tells me very little about which of those someone brings.

How we set pay at LAN

We pay good salaries from the start, and we agree them openly when we hire. If a licence or qualification has value to the business, we agree a set premium upfront and cover the cost of keeping it. We look at salary increases after the first year, based on what each person contributed and the value they bring. The performance and delivery bar rises each year, so a pay raise is not automatic. You can’t just do your job and get a pay raise – you have to make a difference to earn one.

What happens when colleagues compare salaries

People talk about their salaries. That’s normal and it happens everywhere. I run an open book on how we set pay, so I have no problem with the conversation. But it’s worth thinking through where it leads.

If everyone expects to earn the same as the person sitting next to them, a business can either raise everyone to the highest salary, which very few can afford, or flatten pay across the board. In practice, harmonising salaries often means some people end up earning less, and raises get smaller for everyone. The people who lose out most are usually the strongest performers, the very people who would otherwise be rewarded. And who we want and need to keep.

Comparing is natural. I just think the better question is not “what do they earn?” but “what am I contributing, and how is that being recognised?”

Practical points for employers

Whatever the role, agree any premium for a licence or qualification in the contract when you hire, so it never becomes a negotiation later. If you need a registered bookkeeper, know the 2026 rules and remember you can use an external one. Keep your books clean, because that protects your people better than any salary premium. And base pay reviews on contribution, not credentials.

There’s no single right answer for every business. What matters is being clear about how pay is set, agreeing it openly from the start, and making sure people know what they can do to grow their salary.

Every business handles this differently, and I’d be interested to hear how other CMBN members approach it. How do you balance qualifications, licences and performance when you set pay?