Regulations on time limit for inspection of accounting service in Vietnam

Regulations on time limit for inspection of accounting service in Vietnam (Internet image)

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

1. Subject matters of inspection of accounting service in Vietnam

According to Article 4 of Circular 09/2021/TT-BTC), the subject matters of inspection of accounting service include:

- Inspection of compliance with regulations of laws on registration and maintenance of accounting service practicing and business requirements of accounting practitioners and other accounting service businesses in Vietnam, including:

= Registration and maintenance of accounting service business requirements, and performance of reporting and notification obligations by an accounting service provider;

= Registration and maintenance of accounting service business requirements, and performance of reporting and notification obligations of a certified accountant.

- Inspection of an inspectee's compliance with regulations of professional standards, accounting regimes and relevant accounting legislation during the period when they provide accounting services to clients.

Professional standards encompass accounting standards and accounting and auditing ethics.

2. Regulations on time limit for inspection of accounting service in Vietnam

Specifically, in Articles 7 and 8 of Circular 09/2021/TT-BTC), the time limit for inspecting accounting service activities is as follows:

2.1. Time limits for a periodic inspection

- Time limits

= A direct inspection shall be carried out every 3 years.

This regulation on such time limit is applied to any accounting service provider that, in the 3 consecutive years before the time of inspection, have gained revenue from accounting services each year as stated in their financial statement if their revenue is 20 billion dong or more, and have served at least 100 clients. 

Revenue earned from accounting services must include revenue gained from accountant services; chief accountant services; services of preparation and representation of financial statements and accounting consulting services;

= A direct inspection shall be carried out at least every 5 years. This regulation on such time limit shall be applied to any accounting service provider other than those prescribed in point a of clause 1 of this Article.

- If a conclusion in the minutes on the periodic direct inspection of accounting service business activities of an accounting service provider states that there is any professional error or any violation against accounting standards or professional ethics that causes serious consequences or, in fact, is likely to cause serious consequences, the accounting service provider should be re-inspected 1 or 2 year(s) later.

- In case where an accounting service provider has already been subjected to an ad-hoc accounting inspection or audit, they shall not be classified as the inspectee of the periodic inspection of accounting service business activities in that year.

2.2. Duration of a direct inspection

- Inspection of accounting services

= The periodic direct inspection of accounting service business activities shall be carried out in the third or fourth quarter each year.  Ministry of Finance shall notify any change in the aforesaid time of inspection in detail;

= The maximum duration of a periodic direct inspection of accounting service business is 05 working days. Whenever needing to extend the inspection duration due to the complicated issue arising from that inspection, the Inspectorate shall report to the decision-making authority to seek their decision.

- The duration of an ad-hoc inspection of business of accounting services shall be subject to the inspection decision.

3. Inspection forms of accounting service in Vietnam

An inspection is carried out in a direct or indirect manner as follows:

(1)  Indirect inspection means the presiding inspector’s supervision of an inspectee’s compliance with obligations to periodically notify or report to the Ministry of Finance upon request or in accordance with regulations of laws.

(2) Direct inspection means the presiding inspector’s establishing the Inspectorate to inspect accounting services at accounting service businesses.  Direct inspection comprises:

- Periodic inspection

Annually, based on the time limits for periodic direct inspections specified in Article 7 of Circular 09/2021/TT-BTC), the presiding inspector shall make a plan for direct inspection of accounting service business activities.

- Ad-hoc inspection

The presiding inspector shall undertake an unscheduled inspection of an inspectee in one of the following cases:

= An ad-hoc inspection is to verify petitions and complaint letters related to provision of accounting services;

= An ad-hoc inspection is to check information about any sign of violation detected in the process of indirectly managing and inspecting accounting service business activities.

(Article 5 of Circular 09/2021/TT-BTC)

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