This is the content mentioned in the Draft Circular guiding the annual knowledge update for practicing accountants and individuals registering to practice accounting services.
Article table of contents
According to the provisions of the Law on Accounting 2015, individuals with accounting or auditing certificates as stipulated by the Law on Independent Auditing are allowed to register for accounting service practice through accounting service businesses or accounting service households when meeting the following conditions:
- Have full civil act capacity;- Have at least 36 months of actual working experience in finance, accounting, or auditing since graduating from university;- Fully participate in the knowledge update program as required.
To provide guidance on annual knowledge updates as mentioned above, the Ministry of Finance is drafting a Circular guiding the annual knowledge updates for practicing accountants and individuals registering for accounting service practice. The subjects for knowledge updates include:
- Practicing accountants- Individuals registering for accounting service practice.
In case newly certified accountants or certified auditors want to register for accounting service practice, they are allowed to do so from the date of certification until December 31 of the following year without the obligation to update their knowledge.
The mandatory knowledge update content includes the legal regulations on accounting and taxation of Vietnam. Additionally, there might be updates on other types of knowledge related to finance, economic law, management skills, practical accounting experience (including accounting process procedures), international accounting standards, and professional ethics; as well as other related knowledge and information.
Annual knowledge update period
- Minimum of 40 hours in the year preceding the registration year for accounting service practice, with at least 20 hours updating knowledge on the accounting and tax laws of Vietnam.- Individuals who did not practice accounting services for 24 consecutive months or more until the registration date must have at least 80 hours of knowledge updates in the year preceding the registration, including at least 40 hours on accounting and tax laws of Vietnam.- The annual knowledge update hours for accountants are cumulative, from August 16 of the previous year to August 15 of the following year.
Accountants annually update their knowledge by participating in classes held by professional associations, training institutions, or accounting service businesses. Specifically:
- Classes held by professional associations approved by the Ministry of Finance for all accountants;- Classes held by training institutions approved by the Ministry of Finance for all accountants;- Classes held by accounting service businesses approved by the Ministry of Finance, organized for practicing accountants at the respective businesses.
For accountants who are also members of international professional organizations on accounting and auditing, knowledge updates can be done via programs organized by these international professional organizations.
Guidance on handling insufficient knowledge update hours
- In cases where accountants do not have enough knowledge update hours as required in Clause 1, Clause 2 of Article 5 of this Circular due to special reasons (maternity leave, accidents, prolonged illness over 2 months; or unexpected illness exactly during the time of the last registered knowledge update class of the year with missing knowledge update hours), they will be allowed to postpone knowledge update hours for the year if all the following conditions are met:- At least 20 hours of knowledge have been updated;- Submission of a request for postponement of knowledge update hours in the form stipulated in Appendix 05/CNKT attached to this Circular;- Submission of documents proving the aforementioned reasons.- Within 7 working days from the date of receiving the request and related documents as specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the Ministry of Finance will notify the accountant in writing about the approval or disapproval of the knowledge update hours postponement.
Accountants who are permitted to postpone knowledge update hours for the year will be allowed to continue practicing in the following year if they have completed the missing update hours before December 15 of the previous year and report in writing to the Ministry of Finance about the completion of the knowledge update hours before December 25 of the continued practice year. The knowledge update hours counted for the previous year will not be counted for the following year.
If by December 15 of the previous year, the accountant fails to update the required hours or if the Ministry of Finance does not receive a report on the completion of the knowledge update hours by December 25 of the continued practice year, the practicing accountant will be suspended from providing accounting services from January 1 to December 31 of the following year.
See detailed content at Draft.
