Current positions of state auditors in Vietnam

Current positions of state auditors in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Positions of state auditors

According to Article 20 of the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015, state auditors are divided into the following positions:

- Auditors;

- Main auditors;

- Senior auditors.

State Auditor General shall decide designation and dismissal of various positions of state auditors.

2. Common standards of state auditors in Vietnam

Article 21 of the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015 stipulates that apart from satisfying the standards applied to officials according to regulations of law on officials, every state auditor must:

- Have good ethics and responsibility; be integrated, honest, and objective;

- Have a bachelor’s degree in audit, accounting, finance, banking, economics, law, or another discipline that is directly related to audit, or a higher degree;

- Have worked for at least 05 consecutive years in the trained field or in accounting in SAV for at least 03 years, not including the internship period;

- Have a state audit practitioner certificate.

3. What are the duties of State Auditor General in Vietnam?

Duties of State Auditor General are specified in Article 22 of the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015, specifically:

- Perform audit tasks and take responsibility for performance of given audit tasks; make assessment, confirmation, and opinions about audited contents.

- Comply with law, operating principles, audit standards and procedures of SAV and relevant regulations of State Auditor General.

- Take legal responsibility for evidence, auditors’ assessment, confirmation, and opinions.

- Collect audit evidence, record and retain documents of state auditors according to regulations of State Auditor General.

- Protect the confidentiality of information and documents collected during the audit process.

- Present state auditor’s card while performing auditors’ tasks.

- Keep studying, improving professional knowledge, skills, and professional ethics; participate in annual refresher courses as prescribed by State Auditor General.

- Promptly and adequately report the situation mentioned in Article 28 of the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015 and other situations that affect the independence of state auditors to the person who issues the decision to establish the audit delegation.

4. Prohibited acts regarding state audit in Vietnam

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on State Audit Office of Vietnam 2015, prohibited acts  regarding state audit in Vietnam are prescribed as follows:

- The following acts of SAV, state auditors, and collaborators:

+ Harassing, causing difficulties to audited units;

+ Illegally intervening normal operation of audited units;

+ Giving bribes, taking bribes, and/or brokering bribery;

+ Making false or insufficient audit reports;

+ Misuse of power and/or position for self-seeking purposes;

+ Revealing state secrets or trade secrets of audited units;

+ Revealing information about the audit progress and result that are not officially published.

- The following acts of audited units and relevant entities are prohibited:

+ Refusing to provide information, documents serving the audit at the request of SAV and state auditors;

+ Obstructing the work of SAV and state auditors;

+ Making false, untruthful, insufficient, unpunctual reports, or failure to provide objective information about the audit carried out by SAV;

+ Giving bribes to state auditors and collaborators;

+ Shielding violations against regulations of law on public finance and/or public property.

- Every organization and individual is prohibited to illegally intervene the audit and audit result of SAV, state auditors, and collaborators.

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