Viet Nam

Head of State :
Nguyen Phu Trong

Head of Government :
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

Capital :
Ha Noi

Language(s) :
Vietnamese

Currency :
Dong

ASEAN CPA

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Profile of the Country

Information of The Country

Professional Associations

The Viet Nam Accounting Association (VAA) was formed in 1994 representing the accounting and auditing profession in Viet Nam. The Viet Nam Association of Certified Public Accountants (VACPA) was established on 15 April 2005 to represent practicing auditors in Viet Nam.

VACPA had been a member organisation of VAA and from 25 July 2014, VACPA is an independent organisation. VACPA is subject to State management in respect of the accounting and auditing profession exerted by the Ministry of Finance (MOF). VAA was admitted as a member of IFAC in May 1998, and also as a member of the ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA) at the same time. The objectives of VACPA are to:

maintain and develop the accountancy profession,
improve the quality of accounting, auditing and financial advisory services of Viet Nam through training technical update courses, professional ethics and service quality control, and information exchange for its members.

VACPA is organised under the principle of centralism from the Central Executive Board directly to each member, comprising:

Nationwide Congress held once every 4-5 years;
Executive Board;
Standing Board;
Inspection Board;
Technical Committees: Training Committee, Advisory Committee, Qualtiy Review Committee, External Affairs Committee, Member Committee and Auditing Standard Committee;
Research and Consulting Center for CPAs;
Head Office in Hanoi and Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City.

The rights and obligations of VACPA are:

to assemble, unite and encourage its members to continuously improve their technical skills, credit and ethics; to provide technical updates, exchange the information and professional experiences; to assist its members by developing the processes, training manuals, and guidance on finance, accounting and auditing.
to represent and protect legitimate rights and benefits of its members.
to offer opinions to the State bodies in developing, appending, amending the financial, accounting and auditing system and policies, to develop guidance notes on technical matters to its members.
to set up and enforce the commitments upon its members with regard to professional qualification, professional ethics, service quality; create a fair business environment among auditing firms, to support and protect the members in upholding credit, promote the members’ reputation and image, protect and develop the independent auditing profession in Viet Nam.
to establish and develop professional network and cooperation among its members, to listen and find suitable solutions to disputes among members in order to minimise unhealthy competition in providing accounting, auditing and consulting services.
to promote international cooperation in accordance with laws and regulations, contributing to integration with regional and international community.
to improve knowledge for auditors, practicing auditors and perform other duties in relation to independent auditing prescribed by the government. To disseminate the policies and regulations of finance, accounting, auditing. To provide CPD courses professional advice, professional information and experience sharing to the members.
to manage central lists of members. To carry out inspection and monitoring of the compliance with laws and regulations on accounting and auditing, the quality of services provided by the members and auditing firms. To report non-compliances with laws and regulations to authorised State bodies for further action.
to report on annual basis to the Ministry of Finance on the performance and results of implementing the duties as per authorisation by authorised state bodies.
to apply emulation, reward and discipline in accordance with the Association’s Charter and laws and regulations. To carry out summation, experience exchange of auditing practice in the country. To submit to the Ministry of Finance the annual report on the independent auditing activities, the Association’s resolutions, decisions in accordance with laws and on request.

VACPA memberships are divided into Full members, Associate members and Honorary members. Full members consist of:

Vietnamese certified public accountants who have CPA certificate awarded by the Minister of Finance and are working in independent auditing organisations in Viet Nam;
Vietnamese certified public accountants who have CPA certificate awarded by the Minister of Finance but are not working in the independent auditing organisations in Viet Nam and wish to join VACPA as full members.
Lecturers, researchers, and management officers in the accounting and auditing area who have positive influence on the Association’s activities and wish to join the Association as full members.

Associate members consist of:

Vietnamese certified public accountants who have CPA certificate awarded by the Minister of Finance but are not working in independent auditing organisations in Viet Nam and wish to join VACPA as associate members;
Vietnamese citizens who have been awarded foreign CPA certificate and wish to join VACPA as associate members;
Vietnamese academic professors, lecturers, researchers, accounting or auditing professionals of management level with positive influence on the operations of VACPA who wish to join VACPA as associate members;
Auditing firms established and operating in Viet Nam who wish to join VACPA as associate members.

Honorary members are Vietnamese citizens with credit and competency in accounting and auditing, being recognised by Members as great contributors to the development of the Association. Associate members and Honorary members are not eligible to participate, be nominated or elected in VACPA Executive Board nor to vote on any issue of the Association.

Qualifying as an Accountants

Candidates for the Accounting practitioner certificates are required to meet the following requirements:

professionally ethical, honest, upright, and law-abiding;
having Bachelor’s Degrees or above in finance, accounting, or audit;
having worked in finance, accounting, or audit for at least 60 months as from the month of graduation written on the higher education decision at the time of examination registration;
submitted the examination application and fee as prescribed in the rules;
not being persons banned from practicing accountancy as per Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 51 of the Law on Accounting, such as person banned due to legal implications.

Candidates for the Audit practitioner certificates are required to meet the following conditions:

professionally ethical, honest, upright, and law-abiding;
having Bachelor’s degree or higher in finance, banking, accounting, audit; or having the Bachelor’s degree in other professions, and the number of credits (or sessions) of the subject of the following subjects: finance, accounting, audit, financial analysis, taxation, must account for at least over 7% of the total course credits; or having the Bachelor’s degree in other profession, and the certificate or qualification in the courses issued by the professional organisations of the accounting and audit, that comply with the Article 9 of Circular On The Exams For And Issuance Of The Audit Practitioner Certificates And Accounting Practitioner Certificates;
having worked in finance or accounting for at least 60 months from the month of graduation written on the higher education graduation decision at the time of examination registration; or having worked as an audit assistant in an audit enterprise for at least 48 months from the month of graduation written on the higher education graduation decision at the time of examination registration;
have submitted the examination application and fee as prescribed in the rules.

The candidates for Accounting practitioner certificates must take the tests on the following subjects:

Economic law and the Law on Enterprise;

Advanced finance and financial management;

Advanced tax and tax administration;

Advanced administrative accounting, financial accounting;

Advanced audit and guarantee services;

Advanced financial analysis;

C-Level qualification in one of the following foreign languages: English, Russian, French, Chinese, German.

Those having Accounting practitioner certificates applying for Audit practitioner certificates must take the following subjects:

Advance audit and guarantee services;

Advanced financial analysis;

C-level qualification in one of the following foreign languages; English, Russian, French, Chinese, German.

If the Audit practitioner certificates or Accounting practitioner are issued by competent State agencies (not professional organisations), the candidates must be official members of professional organisations of accounting or audit; and such professional organisations must be members of IFAC.

The courses and exams for Accounting expert certificates or practitioner certificates must be equivalent to or higher than that specified in Article 6 of the Circular On The Exams For And Issuance Of The Audit Practitioner Certificates And Accounting Practitioner Certificates.

Foreign candidates for audit practitioner certificates or accounting expert certificates must meet the following conditions:

5. Candidates having Accounting expert certificates or Audit practitioner certificates, issued by foreign professional organisations that are accredited by the Ministry of Finance of Viet Nam, must take the test on Viet Nam’s laws.

Foreign professional organisations accredited by the Ministry of Finance of Viet Nam must be a member of IFAC and having the courses and exams for Accounting expert certificates or Audit practitioner certificates equivalent to or higher than that specified in Article 6 of the Circular On The Exams For And Issuance Of The Audit Practitioner Certificates And Accounting Practitioner Certificates.

Foreign professional organisations of which the Accounting expert certificates or Audit practitioner certificates are recognised by the Ministry of Finance in Viet Nam include

The Association of Chartered Certificated Accountants (ACCA);
Certified Practicing Accountants Australia (CPA Australia).

Foreign professional organisations not being listed as above shall have their Accounting expert certificates and Audit practitioner certificates accredited by the Ministry of Finance certain conditions on IFAC and examination requirements as above are satisfied.

Eligible people that have taken and passed the cooperation exams held in cooperation by the Ministry of Finance in Viet Nam and ACCA shall be exempted from Economic law and the Law on Enterprise and Advanced tax and tax administration. The language used in the test is Vietnamese.

Setting Up an Accountancy Practice

Under the law, auditor means a person issued with an auditor’s certificate in accordance with law, or a person with a foreign certificate recognised by the Ministry of Finance and who passes an examination on the law of Viet Nam. Practising auditor means an auditor issued with a certificate of registration of auditing practice.

Individual

Individual accountancy practitioners must have accountancy certificates granted by competent State bodies and must have the accountancy service business registration. In order to be granted the accountancy practice certificates, Vietnamese citizens must certify the following criteria and conditions:

possessing professional ethics, being honest, incorruptible, having the sense of law observance; and being other than those persons banned from practicing accountancy as per Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 51 of the Law on Accounting, such as person banned due to legal implications;
having professional financial and accounting qualifications of university or higher degree and having actually performed financial and accounting work for five years or more;
passing recruitment exams organised by competent State bodies.

A person who satisfied all the following conditions shall be permitted to register auditing practice:

being an auditor;
having conducted auditing work for a full thirty-six (36) months or more;
fully participates in the program to update knowledge.

A certificate of registration of auditing practice shall only be valid when the person issued with the certificate has a labour contract to work all of the time for auditing enterprise [or] one branch of a foreign auditing enterprise in Viet Nam.

To be granted the accountancy practice certificates, foreigners must satisfy the following criteria and conditions;

being permitted to reside in Viet Nam;
having the accountancy specialist’s certificates or accountancy certificates granted by foreign or international organisations and recognised be the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance;
passing the test on the finance and accounting legislation of Viet Nam, organised be competent State bodies.

The Ministry of Finance shall prescribe the training programs, examination councils, procedures and competence for granting and revoking the accountancy practice certificates according to the provisions of this Law and other relevant law provision.

Organisation

Organisations dealing in accounting services must set up accounting service enterprise according to law provisions. The managers of accounting services enterprises must have the accountancy practice certificates granted by competent State bodies. The organisations to conduct audit practices can be formed in the following manners:

Multiple member limited liability companies;
Partnerships;
Private enterprises.

The conditions for issuance of Certificates of satisfaction of conditions for auditing practice business:

have a business registration certificate, enterprise registration certificate or investment certificate in accordance with law;
have at least five (5) practising auditors including a minimum of two capital contributing members who are practising auditors;
the legal representative and director or general director of the company must be practising auditors;
ensure it has the full amount of legal capital required by Government regulations;
the capital contribution portion of a member being an organisation must not exceed the limit stipulated in Government regulations. The representative of a member being an organisation must be a practising auditor.

Legal capital for the Limited liability company shall be 3 (three) billion Vietnamese dong, as from January 01, 2015, the legal capital shall be 5 (five) billion Vietnamese dong. During its operation, the limited liability company must keep the equity in balance sheet not less than the legal capital. The audit firm must supplement its capital if the equity in balance sheet is less than the legal capital in the period of 03 (three) months as from the end of the fiscal year.

The member of limited liability company with two or more members in case such member is an organisation:

the member being an organisation are entitled to contribute at maximum 35% of the charter capital of the audit limit liability company with two or more members. In case there are many organisations contributing in capital, the total capital contributed by these organisations shall be at maximum 35% of the charter capital of the limited liability company with two or more members.
the member being an organisation shall appoint one person as its representative in the Members’ Council. The representative of member being an organisation must be an auditor and register for auditing practice in the audit firm to which the organisation contributes its capital.
a practicing auditor who is representative of member being an organisation shall not permitted to contribute capital to such audit firm with individual status.

The auditing limited liability company must have at least 2 (two) limited partners who are auditors having registered for their auditing practice in the company. Capital contributed by practicing auditors must account for over 50% of the company’s charter capital. The practicing auditor shall not be permitted to be the member of two or more audit firms at the same time.

A partnership must satisfy all the following conditions when applying for issuance of an SC Certificate:

have a business registration certificate, enterprise registration certificate or investment certificate in accordance with law;
have at least five (5) practising auditors including a minimum of two partners who are practising auditors;
the legal representative and director or general director of the partnership must be practising auditors.

A private enterprise must satisfy all the following conditions when applying for issuance of an SC Certificate:

have a business registration certificate, enterprise registration certificate or investment certificate in accordance with law;
have at least five (5) practising auditors including the owner of the enterprise who is a practising auditor;
the owner of the enterprise is concurrently the director of the enterprise.

A branch of a foreign auditing enterprise in Viet Nam must satisfy all the following conditions when applying for issuance of an SC Certificate:

the foreign auditing enterprise must be permitted to provide independent auditing services pursuant to the law of the country where such enterprise has its headquarters;
having at least two practising auditors, including the director or general director of the branch who is a practising auditor;
the director or general director of the branch of the foreign auditing enterprise must not hold a position as manager or executive of another enterprise in Viet Nam;
the foreign auditing enterprise must forward a letter to the Ministry of Finance undertaking to accept liability for all obligations and undertakings of the branch of the foreign auditing enterprise in Viet Nam;
the foreign auditing enterprise must ensure it maintains its level of legal capital at no less than the level stipulated by Government regulations.

If an auditing enterprise or a branch of a foreign auditing enterprise in Viet Nam is not issued with an SC Certificate within six (6) months from the date of registration of its auditing services business, then such enterprise or branch must conduct procedures to cancel its business line of auditing services business.

The minimum capital for foreign audit firms establishing branches in Viet Nam and the allocated capital of branches of foreign audit firms in Viet Nam.

the foreign audit firm which requesting for granting of the Certificate of satisfaction of auditing business conditions to its branches in Viet Nam must have the equity in balance sheet being at least equal to 500,000 (five hundred thousand) US dollars at the time point of ending the fiscal year nearest time point of requesting.
allocated capital of the branch of foreign audit firms in Viet Nam must not be less than the legal capital applicable to the limited liability company.
during its operation, the foreign audit firm must keep the equity in the balance sheet and the allocated capital of its branch in Viet Nam not less than the capital stipulated. The foreign audit firm, branches of the foreign audit firm must supplement their capital if their equity in balance sheet is lower than the capital levels stipulated in the period of 03 (three) month as from the end date of the fiscal year.

Law and Regulations on Accountancy Practice

Licensing Body for Accountancy Profession

Under the law, the Ministry of Finance is responsible before the Government to exercise State administration of independent auditing activities, with the following duties and powers:

formulation of, and submission to the competent State authority for promulgation or promulgation in accordance with its own authority, of legal instruments on independent auditing;
formulation of strategies and policies for development of independent auditing activities and submission of same to the Government for decision;
providing regulations on conditions for sitting exams, and holding exams for issuance of auditor’s certificates, and revocation and management of auditor’s certificates;
providing regulations on the standard form Certificate of satisfaction of conditions for auditing practice business, and issuance, re-issuance, amendment and revocation of such Certificates;
suspension of auditing services business;
check and inspections, resolution of complaints and denunciations, and dealing with breaches of the Law on independent auditing;
checks and inspections of activities of Professional Auditing Associations in the independent auditing sector;
providing regulations on updating knowledge of auditors and of practising auditors;
providing regulations on registration management of auditing practice; and public announcement of a list of auditing enterprise, branches of foreign auditing enterprises in Viet Nam, and practising auditors;
providing regulations on quality control of auditing services;
providing overall results assessing independent auditing activities and applying measures to assist the development of independent auditing activities; and
conducting international co-operation on auditing.

The State’s auditor and accountant examination board (the Board of examiners) are established with the roles to hold the exams for auditors and accountants as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance. In each exam, the President of the Board of examiners shall establish the Examination Development Board, Invigilation board, the Grading board, Grade review board (if necessary). The Board of Examiners is established by the Minister of Finance at the proposal of the Director of the Department of Audit and Accounting Regulation, and the Director of the Department of Officer Organization.

Monitoring Committee

Regulated Accounting Services

Accounting Services

Applied for Professional Accountant (PA)

NAB Membership and/or PRA Registration

NAB Requirement:

No.

PRA Requirement :

All applicants will be approved by PRA (MOF) for practicing when Laws on Accounting No. 88/2015/QH13 with effect from 1/1/2017.

NAB Membership and/or PRA Registration Requirement
(such as examination, test, recognised qualifications, etc)

NAB Requirement:

No.

PRA Requirement :

An applicant for Professional Accountant (PA) who meet the following conditions:

1. To Get Certificate

Agrees to be bound by code of professional conduct and ethics.
completed an accredited or recognised accountancy degree or program majored in finance, accounting, auditing; or program majored in another areas but having number of period in finance, accounting, auditing, financial and tax analysis account for minimum 7%; or getting university degree and having certificated granted by accounting and auditing international professional organizations according to regulations in Article 9, Circular 91/2017/TT-BTC.
having working experience in finance, accounting and auditing at least 36 months, from the month graduating which shows in university degree (or postgraduate) up to the time to register. The practical working period in auditing include auditing assistant at auditing enterprise, internal auditing, auditing at State Audit Agencies;
Submitting sufficient documents and fees as regulated;
pass examination with four subjects including: Economic Law & Law on Enterprise; Advanced Finance & Financial Management; Advanced Tax and Tax Administration; Advanced Management Accounting & Financial Accounting.

2. PA is allowed to practice by individual or in accounting firm

The applicant having accounting or auditing certificate is allowed to registered as accounting service practicing via accounting enterprises or accounting business according to Internal Auditing law with the following conditions:

1. having civil act capacity;
2. having working experiences in finance, accounting and auditing from at least 36 months since graduation.
3. Having CPD hours. (At least 40 hours/year).

Citizenship Requirement

No

Remarks

Subject to the domestic regulation such as Laws on Accounting No. 88/2015/QH13 takes effectiveness since 1/1/2017; Decree No. 174/2016/ND-CP, Circular No. 292/2016/TT-BTC, Circular No. 296/2016/TT-BTC, Circular No. 297/2016/TT-BTC, Circular No. 91/2017/TT-BTC on guiding accounting practicing.

PA needs to have full time working in accounting firm, except for PA can practice by individual.

Eligibility requirement, where applicable (ASEAN CPA/RFPA)

Not yet open for ASEAN CPA / RFPA.

Audit & Assurance Services

Applied for Auditor

NAB Membership and/or PRA Registration

NAB Requirement:

No.

PRA Requirement :

Yes. All applicants must be approved by PRA (MOF)

NAB Membership and/or PRA Registration Requirement
(such as examination, test, recognised qualifications, etc)

NAB Requirement:

No.

PRA Requirement :

An applicant for Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who meet the following conditions:

1. To Get Certificate

agrees to be bound by code of professional conduct and ethics.
completed an accredited or recognised accountancy degree or program majored in finance, accounting, auditing; or program majored in another areas but having number of period in finance, accounting, auditing, financial and tax analysis account for minimum 7%; or getting university degree and having certificated granted by accounting and auditing international professional organizations according to regulations in Article 9, Circular 91/2017/TT-BTC.
having working experience in finance, accounting and auditing at least 36 months, from the month graduating which shows in university degree (or postgraduate) up to the time to register. The practical working period in auditing include auditing assistant at auditing enterprise, internal auditing, auditing at State Audit Agencies;
Submitting sufficient documents and fees as regulated;
pass examination with seven subjects including Economic Law & Law on Enterprise; Advanced Finance & Financial Management; Advanced Tax & Tax Administration; Advanced Management Accounting & Financial Accounting; Advanced Audit & Guarantee Services; Advanced Financial Analysis; C-Level qualification in one of the following foreign language: English, Russian, French, Chinese, German.

2. CPA must satisfy the following conditions to practice:

Having CPD hours. (At least 40 hours/year).
Having working experience at least 36 months as auditor assistant in auditing firm since graduation.

Citizenship Requirement

No

Remarks

Subject to the domestic regulation such as Laws on Auditing No. 67/2011, Decree No. 17, Circular No. 129, Circular No. 202, Circular No. 203, Circular No. 150, Circular No. 56, Circular No. 91/2017/TT-BTC.

CPA needs to have full time working in auditing firm.

Eligibility requirement, where applicable (ASEAN CPA/RFPA)

Not yet open for ASEAN CPA/RFPA.

Liquidator / Insolvency Services