In which cases is it not mandatory to appoint a chief accountant in Vietnam? Must a chief accountant have a bachelor's degree?
In which cases is it not mandatory to appoint a chief accountant in Vietnam?
According to Article 20 of Decree No. 174/2016/ND-CP on chief accountants and acting chief accountants as follows:
Chief accountants and acting chief accountants
1. An accounting unit must have a chief accountant, except for those specified in Clause 2 of this Article. In the cases where a unit is not able to appoint a chief accountant at the time, it may appoint an acting chief accountant or outsource chief accountant works. An acting chief accountant will hold the position for up to 12 months, after which a chief accountant shall be appointed.
2. Acting chief accountant:
a) An accounting unit that has only one accountant or part-time accountant, budget accounting and finance units of communes shall appoint only acting chief accountants, not chief accountants.
b) Extra-small enterprises defined by the law on provision of assistance for small and medium enterprises may appoint acting chief accountants without having to appoint chief accountants.
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In Article 4 of the 2017 Law on Assistance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Vietnam, the criteria for identification of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are as follows:
Criteria for identification of SMEs
1. An SME is either a micro-enterprise, small enterprise or medium-sized enterprise having the annual average number of employees who participate in social insurance is not greater than 200 and satisfying one of the following criteria:
a) The total capital is not greater than 100 billion dong;
b) The enterprise’s revenue of the previous year is not greater than 300 billion dong;
2. Micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises are identified according to each industry such as agriculture, forestry, aquaculture; industry and construction and trade and services.
3. The Government shall provide detailed guidance on this Article.
Thus, according to the above regulations, the case of micro enterprises will not be required to appoint a chief accountant. Microenterprises are identified based on criteria set by the Government.
In which cases is it not mandatory to appoint a chief accountant in Vietnam? Must a chief accountant have a bachelor's degree? (Image from the Internet)
Who is prohibited from practicing accounting in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of Article 52 of the 2015 Law on Accounting, the following people are prohibited from practicing accounting in Vietnam:
- Minors; people who completely or partly lose their civil capacity as declared by the court; people forcibly sent to reform schools or rehabilitation centers.
- People banned from practicing accounting under an effective court’s judgment or decision; people undergoing criminal prosecution; people sentenced to imprisonment or were convicted of economic crimes or other crimes related to finance, accounting and have not had their criminal records expunged.
- Parents, adoptive parents, spouses, children, siblings of the legal representative, head, Director, General Director, deputies of the head, Deputy Director, Deputy General Director in charge of finance – accounting, and the chief accountant of the same accounting unit, except for private enterprises, single-member limited liability companies owned by individuals, and other cases specified by the Government.
- People holding the position of managers, executive officers, treasurers, warehouse-keepers, buyers or sellers of assets in the same accounting unit except for private enterprises, single-member limited liability companies owned by individuals, and other cases specified by the Government.
Must a chief accountant have a bachelor's degree?
Clause 3, Article 21 of Decree No. 174/2016/ND-CP stipulates that the chief accountants and acting chief accountants of the following accounting units must have at least a professional intermediate certificate in accounting:
- Professional agencies affiliated to the People’s Committee of the province if they have their own accounting apparatus (except for level 1 state-funded unit of districts);
- Vertically organized central authorities in district authorities; provincial authorities in district authorities;
- Political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations of districts funded by state budget;
- Management boards of projects having their own accounting apparatus are funded by state budget, except for those in Clause 2g of this Article;
- Budget accounting and finance unit of communes;
- Public service agencies other than those specified in Clause 2c of this Article;
- Enterprises established and operating within Vietnam’s law that are not funded by state budget and whose charter capital is smaller than 10 billion dongs;
- Cooperatives, cooperative associations whose charter capital is smaller than 10 billion dongs.
Thus, it is not mandatory that all cases of chief accountants must have a university degree. When working as a chief accountant at the above-said agencies, at least a professional intermediate certificate in accounting is required.
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