A Queensland businessman ripped off creditors by taking $550,000 from his sinking transport company to give to his son as "back pay".

Edward Harold Pye, 54, avoided jail on Thursday after pleading guilty in Brisbane District Court to two counts of breaching his duties while sole director of ERH Transport Services.

After the company went liquidation in 2014, Pye transferred the money into a trust for his son Ben, who was employed by the company as a 17-year-old on a $175,000-a-year contract three years earlier.

But because Ben Pye was actually paid "a far more modest salary" than stated in his contract, Pye saw it fit to label the payment "back pay", Crown prosecutor Ben Power said.