Bangkok · Situation
Turnaround and restructuring in Bangkok
Turnaround work is where interim leadership is most obviously the right instrument. The mandate is intense, short and specific, and it frequently requires someone with no history in the business and no relationships to protect.
The first job is almost always cash visibility. The second is credibility with lenders. Everything structural comes after those two.
What this calls for
- Immediate thirteen-week cash visibility and control over outflows
- Lender and creditor negotiation with a defensible plan behind it
- Cost base restructuring, including the employment cost of doing it
- Reporting the board and the bank will believe
- A stabilisation plan with milestones somebody is accountable for
What is specific to Thailand
- Severance runs to 400 days of uncapped wages while employer social cost is capped at THB 10,500 a year. A bad executive hire is cheap to carry and ruinous to exit.
- Each foreign executive on payroll needs THB 2m of registered capital and four Thai employees. A consulting contract avoids the quota.
- Statutory audit and TFRS compliance are annual and mandatory even for tiny companies, so the recurring need is a few days a month of senior judgment, not a full-time seat.
- Authority in Thailand is documented, not implied. The DBD company affidavit names the authorised directors and the signing condition, so a fractional CFO who is not a registered director cannot sign bank mandates, tax filings or contracts. Every Thai engagement has to resolve the signatory question separately, usually with a limited power of attorney.
The Bangkok numbers
Fractional, per monthTHB 120,000–350,000/month (USD 3,700–10,700), typically THB 150,000–250,000 at two days a week. Advisory-only mandates — a monthly board pack and a call — run THB 50,000–90,000.
Full-time, all-inBase THB 250,000–450,000/month for a Bangkok CFO or COO. All-in with 13th month, bonus, medical and car allowance: THB 4.5m–8.0m a year, roughly USD 138,000–245,000.
SeveranceLabour Protection Act s.118: 30 days’ wages at 120 days’ service, 90 at one year, 180 at three, 240 at six, 300 at ten, and 400 days — about 13.3 months — at twenty years. No wage cap. Payment in lieu of notice on top, and restructuring terminations can reach 360 days.