New Regulations on Postponement of Professional Accountant Knowledge Update Hours

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Pursuant to the provisions in Clause 1, Article 12 of Circular 292/2016/TT-BTC, in the event that a professional accountant is unable to complete the required continuing education hours as specified in Clause 1, Article 5 of this Circular due to special reasons (maternity leave, accidents, extended illness lasting over 02 months; or sudden illness coinciding with the timing of the final continuing education class covering such deficient content), the professional accountant will be granted a postponement of the continuing education hours for the year if all the following conditions are met:

- The accountant has completed at least 20 hours of continuing education;- A request for postponement is submitted using the form stipulated in Annex No. 05/CNKT enclosed with this Circular and sent to the Ministry of Finance no later than August 31 each year;- Supporting documents for the aforementioned reasons are provided.

Clause 1, Article 2 of Circular 39/2020/TT-BTC amends Clause 2, Article 12 of Circular 292/2016/TT-BTC stipulating that no later than 10 days from the date of receipt of the dossier as specified in Clause 1, Article 12 of Circular 292, the Ministry of Finance must provide written notification to the professional accountant regarding the approval or denial of the postponement of continuing education hours.

Professional accountants granted a postponement for their continuing education hours for the current year may continue practicing into the following year if the deficient hours are completed before December 15 of the current year and a written or electronic notification of completion is sent to the Ministry of Finance by December 25 of the current year. Hours completed for the current year cannot be counted towards the following year.

If by December 15 of the current year, the professional accountant has not completed the required hours, or if by December 25 of the current year, the Ministry of Finance has not received notification of the completion of the deficient hours, the professional accountant will be suspended from practicing accounting services from January 1 to December 31 of the following year.

More details can be found in Circular 39/2020/TT-BTC, effective from July 1, 2020.

Thu Ba

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