Chương II Thông tư 24/2024/TT-BTC: Quy định cụ thể

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 4. Accounting records

1. Accounting units may design their own accounting records to reflect economic/financial transactions in a manner that meets management requirements and ensures adequate information for doing bookkeeping tasks, unless forms of accounting records are prescribed in relevant legislative documents. Accounting records self-designed by an accounting unit must correctly reflect the nature of its economic/financial transactions, contain adequate information as required in the Law on accounting, be suitable for the types of information to be recorded in the accounting book, and meets its management requirements.

2. If printed accounting records are used, accounting units and their financially dependent units (hereinafter referred to as “units”) must adopt appropriate measures for retaining and keeping them from damage or process of rotting.  Regarding accounting records which must be separately and carefully managed as money as required by competent authorities, units shall strictly comply with the prescribed management procedures to keep them absolutely safe.

Article 5. Chart of accounts

1. Accounts regularly, continuously and systematically reflect assets; receipt and use of funding derived from state budget and other funding sources according to financial mechanisms; revenues, expenses, profit distribution and other economic/financial transactions that occurs at a unit.

2. Classification and rules for using chart of accounts

a) Accounts on the balance sheet include accounts of type 1 to 9, and are recorded applying double-entry bookkeeping (i.e. every entry shall be recorded in both sides of an account). These accounts are used for reflecting assets, funding sources, revenues, and expenses and determining business performance of a unit during the accounting period, which are used as the basis for making financial statements.

b) OBS accounts are accounts of type 0, and are recorded applying single-entry bookkeeping (i.e. every entry shall only be recorded in one side of an account).  OBS accounts 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013 are used for reflecting the receipt and use of funding of which the amounts used must be recorded in detail at the end of year according to list of state budget entries as the basis for making final statements. To be specific:

- OBS accounts used for statement of state budget-derived funding (accounts 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011) shall be recorded in detail according to the list of state budget entries and budget year, and in a manner meeting other management requirements for statement of state budget-derived funding set out in regulations of law on state budget.

- OBS accounts used for statement of funding derived from deducted/retained amounts of collected fees, and revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries (accounts 012, 013) shall be recorded in detail according to the list of state budget entries and in a manner meeting other management requirements for statement of these funding sources.

c) If an economic/financial transaction involves the receipt and use of domestic funding derived from state budget, or funding derived from deducted/retained amounts of collected fees, and revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries, it shall be recorded on both on-balance and OBS accounts and in detail according to the list of state budget entries and appropriate budget year.

d) If an economic/financial transaction involves the receipt and use of foreign aid amounts or foreign loans for implementing projects, it shall be recorded as state budget revenue or expense in accordance with regulations of law in force. After it is recorded as state budget revenue or expense, it must be also recorded on OBS accounts for making final statements as prescribed in this Circular.

3. Application of chart of accounts

a) Based on the chart of accounts enclosed herewith, units shall select accounts suitable for their operations and financial mechanisms within the ambit of their assigned functions and tasks.

b) Subaccounts of the accounts on the chart of accounts (in Appendix I enclosed herewith) may be created to meet management requirements of the unit.

c) The addition of any account of the same level with that of an account on the chart of accounts (provided in Appendix I) enclosed herewith must comply with provisions of the Law on accounting to ensure the consistency in use of accounts and presentation of information on financial statements which should not be omitted or duplicated.

4. The chart of accounts, contents, structure and methods for recording such accounts are provided in Appendix I “Chart of accounts and guidelines for recording” enclosed herewith.

Article 6. Accounting books

1. Accounting books shall be intended for recording, systematizing and retaining all economic/financial transactions already arising of units. Opening, recording of entries, closures, management and retention of accounting books shall comply with regulations of the Law on accounting, relevant legislative documents and the provisions of this Circular.

2. All existing assets of a unit must be reflected and monitored on its accounting book. If the official value of an asset is not available, it shall be recorded according to its temporarily calculated value. If its temporarily calculated value is not available, it shall be recorded according to conventional value. When the asset's official value is available, entries of relevant accounts on the unit’s accounting book must be modified in accordance with provisions of this Circular.

3. If a unit receives and uses domestic funding derived from state budget; foreign aid amounts or foreign loans for implementing projects; funding derived from deducted/retained amounts of collected fees, and revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries, it shall be required to open accounting book to monitor the receipt and use of these funding sources in detail according to the state budget year and list of state budget entries, and in manner meeting other management requirements for preparing final statements of operating funding which are submitted to competent authorities as prescribed.

4. Types of accounting books

a) Each unit shall use only one accounting book system for an annual accounting period, including general accounting book and subsidiary accounting books.

Each unit shall create both general accounting book and subsidiary accounting books, and ensure adequate and correct contents, order and method for recording accounting books as prescribed in this Circular.

b) The general accounting book is used for generally recording economic/financial transactions in chronological order or according to economic contents. A unit may, where necessary, record economic transactions in chronological order and classify or systematize them according to economic contents.

c) Subsidiary accounting books and sheets:

- Subsidiary accounting books/sheets are intended for recording in detail economic/financial transactions involving accounting subjects which are not yet reflected in detail in the general accounting book to meet management requirements. Data on subsidiary accounting books/sheets is the specific information serving the performance of internal management tasks of a unit as well as the computation and creation of items of its financial statements and final statements of operating funding.

- Based on management and bookkeeping requirements for each accounting subject, units are allowed to add information to their subsidiary accounting books/sheets to serve their preparation of financial statements, final statements of operating funding, and meet their management requirements.

- Information and data on subsidiary accounting books/sheets must match those on the general accounting book.

5. Responsibility of bookkeepers

a) Accounting books must be strictly managed. The persons responsible for managing and recording accounting books must be identified. The bookkeeper is responsible for the contents and data on the accounting book while he/she is assigned to keep and record such accounting book. If more than an employee is assigned to make entries in the same accounting book electronically, each employee shall be responsible for their entries made in such accounting book.

b) When a new bookkeeper is assigned, the unit shall arrange handover of responsibility to keep and record the accounting book and all relevant accounting records/documents between the former bookkeeper and this new one. The former bookkeeper shall take responsibility for the period over which he/she managed and recorded the accounting book, and the new bookkeeper shall take responsibility from the date of responsibility handover.

c) The bookkeeper must make entries in the accounting book in a timely, clear and adequate manner.  Information and data recorded in the accounting book must be accurate and truthful, and correspond to economic/financial transactions recorded on relevant accounting records, data and documents.

d) The bookkeeper shall record economic/financial transactions in the accounting book in chronological order. Information and data recorded in an accounting book of the following year must continue those on the accounting book of the preceding year, and have their continuity from the opening to closing of the book ensured.

6. Opening accounting books

a) An accounting book must be opened at the opening of the annual accounting period or as soon as practicable after receiving the establishment decision of the unit. The accounting book shall be opened at the beginning of the annual accounting period to transfer information and data from the accounting book of the preceding year, and record all economic/financial transactions arising in the new fiscal or budget year from January 01.

The accounting book of an accounting unit must specify the name of the accounting unit, name and symbol of the accounting book; opening date of the book; signature of the person opening the book, chief accountant or acting chief accountant of the accounting unit.

The accounting book of a financially dependent unit must specify the name of the financially dependent unit, name and symbol of the accounting book; opening date of the book; signature of the person assigned to perform accounting works.

b) Regarding OBS account books used for monitoring the receipt and use of domestic funding derived from state budget; foreign aid amounts or foreign loans for implementing projects; funding derived from deducted/retained amounts of collected fees, and revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries, after December 31, data of the previous year must be kept for further data monitoring and adjustment during preparation of final statements of such funding as prescribed. Accounting book shall be opened for recording transactions that occur in the following year according to the statement year as prescribed.

c) Accounting books on accounting software program must have adequate contents of an accounting book as prescribed by the Law on accounting and provisions of this Circular.

d) If an accounting book is opened manually, each unit is required to complete legal procedures for that accounting book as follows:

- The accounting book must be bound in a book form; its cover’s left corner must specify the name of the unit opening the book while the book’s name, dates of opening and closing the book, full names and signatures of relevant persons as defined in the Law on accounting, seal, date of closing or transferring the book to another person are shown in its cover’s middle.

- Pages of the accounting book shall be continuously numbered from 01 to the last page, and any two pages must bear the fan stamping of the unit.

7. Recording accounting books

a) Accounting books must be recorded according to accounting records or supporting information and data of economic/financial transactions; entries made in the accounting book must be accurate and truthful; any accounts used must be consistent with contents of economic/financial transactions; all figures must be clearly and continuously presented in the accounting book in chronological order; information must be adequately and systematically presented; no abbreviations or skipped lines shall be accepted.

b) Each unit shall be required to adequately open accounting books. Recording order and minimum information requirements for each type of accounting books in Appendix II “System of accounting books” enclosed herewith must be followed.

c) In case an accounting book is recorded manually, indelible ink must be used; the use of red ink or pencil shall not be allowed. When a page is fully written up, the sum of figures on such page shall be found and recorded at the beginning of the following page; no interlineations on the top or bottom of a page shall be permitted. Blank space of each page shall be crossed out. No erasures will be accepted.

8. Closing accounting books

Closing accounting book means the calculation of total number of debits and total number of credits, and ending balance of each account or total revenues, expenses, unused funds, received, dispatched and stocked goods during the period. Information and data on an accounting book must not be changed after the accounting book is closed and financial statements/final statements of funding are submitted to competent authorities. Correction of accounting data shall comply with provisions of Article 7 of this Circular.

a) Closing period

- Accounting books must be closed at the end of the annual accounting period before financial statements are prepared.

- Monitoring book of deposits at banks/state treasuries must be closed at the end of each month for the purpose of verifying deposit balances with the bank/treasury.

- Cash book must be closed at the end of each day or on a periodical basis which is decided by the accounting unit in conformity with its scale and operations so as to ensure its safe management of cash.

- Accounting books shall be also closed in case of unscheduled stocktaking or in other cases as prescribed by law.

b) Procedures for closing accounting books

b1) Step 1: Check and compare information and data before closing the accounting book

- At the end of each accounting period and upon completion of recording of all accounting records that arise during the period in the accounting book, and carryforward of ending balances, data recorded in the accounting book, including data on cashes, inventories, fixed assets, balances on receivables, payables, and other accounting data, must be compared and verified with relevant parties and documents to ensure their accuracy and matching.

- After closing the cash book, verification procedures are required to ensure the accuracy and matching between the cash book, the cash fund book and actual cash amount in the unit’s vault. If cash is not used up at the end of a month, a cash count sheet must be prepared and kept together with the cash book prepared at the ending day of the month.

- When closing monitoring book of deposits at banks/state treasuries, verification with banks/state treasuries must be carried out to ensure the accuracy of each deposit account of the unit. Deposit verification forms (which bear signature and seal of the bank/state treasury) shall be monthly kept together with the monitoring book of deposits at banks/state treasuries.

- Calculate the sums on both debit and credit sides of all accounts on the general accounting book and subsidiary accounting books/sheets. If multiple subsidiary accounting books are opened, a statement of such subsidiary accounting books shall be made. Then, verification procedures shall be followed to ensure the accuracy and matching of data between the general accounting book and subsidiary accounting books/sheets or the statement of subsidiary accounting books.

- After data is found to be matched, the accounting book shall be closed. If there is any difference, the cause thereof must be determined and the difference shall be reconciled until all figures are matched.

b2) Step 2: Close accounting books

- Before closing an annual accounting book, each unit must check whether or not retroactive adjustment or retroactive application is made. If yes, opening balances must be re-calculated.

- An accounting book must indicate the following information when it is closed:

+ Opening balances: Balances carried forward from the previous period must be specified. Regarding opening balances of a year, balances carried forward from the previous year, sums for which retroactive adjustment or retroactive application is made and opening balances after retroactive adjustment or retroactive application (if any) must be specified;

+ Sums that arise during the period;

+ Closing balances (which are calculated on the basis of opening balances after retroactive adjustment or retroactive application);

+ Sums accumulated from the beginning of year to the closing date;

Closing balance is calculated adopting the following formula:

When closing an accounting book, the chief accountant or acting chief accountant of the accounting unit must check to ensure the accuracy and balancing of information and data recorded by the accounting unit as the basis for preparation of financial statements and final statements of operating funding as prescribed in this Circular. Person in charge of accounting works of a financially dependent unit must check closing figures to ensure provision of accurate information and data to the accounting unit.

- When closing an accounting book which is recorded manually, in addition to the abovementioned steps, a horizontal line must be drawn below the line recording the final transaction in the accounting period. After calculation, the balance of each account shall be written within the appropriate column, whether it is debit or credit. Finally, two straight lines will be drawn to end the closing of the accounting book.

9. Units shall design their own accounting books according to the list of accounting books and guidelines for recording accounting books in Appendix II "System of accounting books" enclosed herewith. In addition, units may open subsidiary accounting books to meet their management requirements provided that they must comply with regulations of the Law on accounting regarding accounting books and relevant laws.

Article 7. Correction of information and data on accounting books

1. Correction of accounting books shall comply with provisions of the Law on accounting and this Circular.

2. Correction of information/data in the year (from January 01 to December 31)

If any entries made in an accounting book in the year are found erroneous, correction of information/data will be made on the accounting book of the current year. If an error involves both on-balance account and OBS account, correction will be made on both accounts to ensure the accuracy and matching of information/data.

3. Correction of information/data concerning the final statement of operating funding after the closing date of an accounting book (i.e. after December 31)

a) Correction of information/data on an OBS account book which is used as the basis for preparation of the final statement of operating funding shall comply with provisions of the Law on state budget and relevant laws.

b) Information/data on a subsidiary OBS account book of the reporting year may only be corrected before the final statement is submitted to a competent authority.

c) No corrections made after the final statement has been submitted to a competent authority will be permitted, unless there are changes in information/data according to the written approval of the final statement given by the competent authority. In this case, a new final statement will be prepared and submitted to the competent authority after completing correction of information/data as requested.

d) If any information/data on the OBS account book which is in connection with those used for the preparation of the financial statements, corrections will also be made on relevant on-balance accounts as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article.

4. Correction of information/data concerning the financial statements after the closing date of an accounting book (i.e. after December 31)

Correction of information/data on an accounting book concerning accounts used as the basis for preparation of financial statements shall be subject to the following provisions:

a) In cases where an error is found after the closing date of an accounting book (after December 31) but before the financial statements are signed for issue and submission to competent authorities or publicly disclosed as prescribed:

There will be some events that occur after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) but before the date on which the financial statements are signed for issue. These events are defined as events after the end of the reporting period, and are relevant to the preparation of the financial statements, including adjusting events and non-adjusting events. Adjusting events are those that provide evidence of conditions that existed in the reporting year and before the end of the annual reporting period. Adjusting events include:

- the determination after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) of the cost of assets purchased, or the proceeds from assets sold, on December 31 or earlier;

- the determination after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) of the sharing of the revenue earned from a joint venture or association in the reporting period but must be shared with another unit under a signed agreement (the sharing unit shall carry forward from the received payment pending sharing into its revenue; the receiving unit shall record the received amount as revenue in the reporting period corresponding to the previously recorded receivable);

- the carrying forward of the differences between revenues and expenses in the reporting year of the activities of which the cost is self-covered by the unit or with a pre-determined funding or other activities of similar nature into the funds of the unit, funds or amounts payable;

- the discovery after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) of errors in the information/data on the accounting book recorded during the reporting year (from January 01 to December 31);

- the change of the advance payment received from state budget for the work quantities finished before December 31 into the allocated amount during the period for making adjustments to the final statement of the reporting year;

- the receipt after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) of a competent authority’s decision on a case that confirms that the unit has a liability which must be recognized or has to adjust any previously recognized provision of the reporting year;

- the receipt of information after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) indicating that an asset was impaired on December 31 or earlier and that the unit’s provision needs to be recognized or adjusted (e.g. the bankruptcy of a customer confirms that a loss existed at the end of the annual accounting period on a trade receivable and that the unit needs to adjust the provision for bad receivable debts);

- other events that occur after the closing date of the accounting book (after December 31) and provide clear evidence of conditions that existed on December 31 or earlier and require the entity to adjust information/data on the closed book for preparing the financial statements of the year for which the accounting book is closed in an appropriate and objective manner; the unit shall assume responsibility for its decision to make these adjustments.

b) In cases where an error is found after the annual financial statements are submitted to competent authorities or publicly disclosed as prescribed:

b1) No corrections on the financial statements submitted to competent authorities or publicly disclosed are permitted. If an error is found, correction shall be made on the accounting book of the year in which the error is found in accordance with provisions of this Circular.

b2) Information/data may be corrected in the following cases:

- Discovery of material errors: omission or improper handling of information existed at the closing date of the accounting book for preparation of financial statements of the previous years that results in falsified information occurring on the unit’s financial statements of the previous years and could influence the decisions of users of such financial statements. These errors result from mathematical mistakes, mistakes in applying accounting regulations, oversights or misinterpretations of facts, or fraud. Depending on the scope, nature and scale of each error, the materiality of the error will be determined and a decision to adjust or correct information/data will be issued.

- Implementation of documents issued by competent authorities (the State audit offices, inspection agencies or other regulatory authorities) that request the unit to correct information/data presented on its financial statements submitted to competent authorities or publicly announced. 

- Changes in accounting policies, including: changes in accounting regimes or financial mechanisms that require correction of information/data of previous years; changes in methods of recording or determining the value of a transaction or event that materially impacts the information/data of previous years.

- Changes in accounting estimates: cases where the value of items which must be recorded in the period cannot be accurately determined but must be estimated.  The estimation will be based on information/data existing at the date on which the estimation is made; the outputs of this estimation will be recorded and presented on the financial statements of the period in which the estimation is made. In the following periods, if there are any changes in accounting estimates that result from new information/data, correction of previously estimated information/data may be made in accordance with provisions of this Circular. E.g.:  accounting estimates for setting aside provisions, recording revenues paid by the health insurance fund to health facilities before the official final statements are made or costs of in-progress works.

b3) Correction or adjustment methods:

(1) Retroactive adjustment

- Retroactive adjustment means the restatement of values of items of assets, liabilities and net assets presented on prior years’ financial statements by adjusting the opening balances on the current year’s financial statements, including adjustment of figures in the opening balance column of the current year’s financial status report, and in the opening balance lines on the current year’s report on changes in net assets and notes to the current year’s financial statements.

- The retroactive adjustment will apply:

+ when discovering any material errors; or

+ for implementing a competent authority’s request/recommendation.

(2) Retrospective application

Retrospective application means the application of a new accounting policy to transactions or events previously conducted or occurred.

The retrospective application will be employed in case where are changes in  accounting policies which require the correction of accounting information/data of previous years. In this case, the following steps will be followed:

- Adjust the values of items of assets, liabilities and net assets presented on prior years’ financial statements which are affected by changes in accounting policies by adjusting the opening balances on the current year’s financial statements (i.e. figures in the opening balance column of the current year’s financial status report, and in the opening balance lines on the current year’s report on changes in net assets and notes to the current year’s financial statements).

- Adjust figures presented on the previous year’s income statement which are affected by changes in accounting policies by making corresponding adjustment to figures in the “previous year” column of the current year’s income statement. In addition, changes in income statements of one or more previous years must be determined, and the opening balance of net assets on the current year’s financial status report and on the current year’s report on changes in net assets.

(3) Prospective application

Prospective application means the recognition of the effect of a change in an accounting estimate in figures on the current year’s accounting book. In this case, the accounting estimate is changed if there are changes occurring in the circumstances on which the previous periods’ accounting estimate was based or as a result of new information.

(4) The abovementioned retroactive adjustment and/or retroactive application must be fully explained in the notes to the current year’s financial statements. Before closing accounting books for preparing the financial statements, the opening balances (or previous year’ balances if such retroactive adjustment and/or retroactive application involves the income statement) shall be re-calculated on the basis of figures for which retroactive adjustment and/or retroactive application are made in the year for being presented on the current year’s financial statements.

c) Adjustment of accounting data as prescribed in Points a and b of this Clause shall not cause any changes in values of accounts of cash, deposits at banks/state treasuries which have been verified and certified accurate by the end of December 31 in accordance with provisions of this Circular.

Article 8. Final statement of operating funding

1. The following entities shall be required to prepare final statements of operating funding:

a) State budget-funded units shall make final statements of operating funding in respect of the funding derived from state budget (including domestic funding derived from state budget's funding for recurrent expenditures, foreign aid amounts, foreign loans granted by foreign sponsors for implementing projects) in accordance with provisions of the Law on state budget and the form provided in this Circular.

b) If there are revenues and expenses relating to deducted/retained amounts of collected fees, or revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries, final statements of operating funding shall be prepared using the form provided in this Circular.

2. Purposes of final statements of operating funding

a) Final statements of operating funding are intended for providing information on the management and use of state budget-derived funding; deducted/retained amounts of collected fees; revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries.

b) Final statements of operating funding shall be presented in detail according to corresponding items and the used funding which must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries in order to provide information on the management and use of operating funding to superior authorities, finance authorities and other competent authorities.

c) Information on the final statement of operating funding is used for assessment of the compliance with regulations of law on state budget and other financial mechanisms applied by the unit, as an important basis for competent authorities, the unit's superior authority and the unit's leadership to carry out the inspection, assessment, supervision and management of financial activities and budget of the unit, and assessment of efficiency of mechanisms and policies applied by the unit.

3. Principles and requirements for preparing final statements of operating funding

a) A unit’s final statement of operating funding must be based on the accounting data obtained after closing its accounting book.

b) Regarding statement of domestic state budget-derived funding:

- Data on statement of state budget-derived funding includes funding actually received and used in the budget year, including such amounts arising during the final statement adjustment period as prescribed by the Law on state budget.

- Data on statement of state budget-derived funding must be compared, verified and certified to be matched with those of state treasuries where transactions are made as prescribed.

- State budget-derived funding actually used in the budget year requiring statement is the amount actually spent by the unit and certified by the state treasury to be recorded as state budget expenses in the budget year as prescribed.

- If a unit that is funded by a superior state budget receives funding provided by the inferior state budget as prescribed, a final statement of funding amounts received from the inferior state budget must be made using the form provided in this Circular to facilitate the statement of funding with the finance authority providing such funding amount and preparation of consolidated report to the superior accounting unit.

- If a unit that is funded by an inferior state budget receives state budget-funding under authorization of a superior state budget, a final statement of authorized funding amounts must be made using the form provided in this Circular to facilitate the statement of funding with the authorizing authority and competent authorities as prescribed.

c) Regarding statement of foreign aid amounts and foreign loans for implementing projects:

Data on statement of state budget-derived funding includes the amount actually received from foreign donors and the amount used and recorded as state budget revenues/expenses in the budget year, including such amounts arising during the final statement adjustment period as prescribed by the Law on state budget.

d) Regarding statement of deducted/retained amounts of collected fees as prescribed by the Law on fees and charges, and revenues earned during operation of which the amounts used must be recorded and reported according to the list of state budget entries:

Data on the statement includes the amount received and the amount actually used in the fiscal year which must be supported by adequate documents and records, including information/data from the beginning of the year to the end of December 31 (unless otherwise prescribed by law).

dd) Final statements of operating funding must be prepared in a truthful, objective, adequate and timely manner, and must correctly reflect the funding amounts actually received, used and allocated under estimates in the year. These amounts should be sorted by their sources.

e) Final statements of operating funding must have adequate contents, be made adopting the prescribed methods, and consistently presented between reporting periods using the form provided in this Circular.  In addition, in certain cases, other forms of final statements must be prepared and submitted in accordance with regulations of competent authorities.

4. Reporting period

Final statements of operating fund are made for annual accounting periods. If final statements of operating funding for other accounting periods are required by law, in addition to annual final statements of operating funding, final statements for such accounting periods must be also prepared.

5. Time limits and places for submission of annual final statements of operating funding

a) Time limits for submission of annual final statements of operating funding shall comply with provisions of the Law on state budget and relevant guidelines.

b) Annual final statements of operating funding shall be submitted to:

- Superior estimation units;

- Same-level finance authority, if an accounting unit is a level-I estimation unit and is funded by state budget;

- Finance authority providing funding, if a unit that is funded by a superior state budget receives funding provided by the inferior state budget (statement of funding amount provided by the inferior state budget as prescribed).

- Authority allocating authorized funding estimate, if a unit uses funding under authorization of a superior state budget.

6. Methods for submission of annual final statements of operating funding

Annual final statements of operating funding shall be submitted in either physical or electronic form, depending on actual conditions and requirements of the receiving authority.

7. List, forms and guidelines for preparation of final statements of operating funding are provided in Appendix III “System of final statements of operating funding” enclosed herewith.

Article 9. Financial statements

1. Financial statements of an accounting unit mean a system of economic/financial information of that unit demonstrated according to the principles and form provided in this Circular, and are used for reflecting all information/data on economic/financial transactions conducted in the year of that unit.

2. Entities required to prepare financial statements

Accounting units shall prepare financial statements on the basis of information/data on their closed accounting books at the end of the annual accounting period (December 31). Financially dependent units shall provide information/data to serve the preparation of financial statements by their superior accounting units as prescribed in this Circular.

3. Purposes of financial statements

a) Financial statements are intended for providing information on financial status, business performance and cash flows of an accounting unit, for that unit’s leadership, competent authorities and relevant entities to serve their consideration and issuance of decisions appropriate to that unit’s financial status.

b) Information provided in the financial statements is helpful to increase the accounting unit’s accountability and transparency of information on its receipt and use of all resources under its management in accordance with regulations of law.

c) Financial statements of an accounting unit are used as the basis for its superior accounting unit’s preparation of consolidated financial statements, and provide information/data for preparation of financial statements of the State as prescribed.

d) In addition to the abovementioned purposes, if the information/data on an accounting unit’s financial statements prepared according to provisions of this Circular needs to be used for another specific purpose (such as tax calculation), the user of financial statements should take into account the suitability of the information/data on the financial statements for such purpose.

4. Principles and requirements for preparation of financial statements

a) An accounting unit’s financial statements must be prepared based on the accounting information/data obtained after its accounting book is properly closed.

b) Financial statements must be prepared based on correction information and according to the correct method and principles, and must be presented in a consistent manner between accounting periods.  If there is any discrepancy between financial statements of accounting periods, reasons for such discrepancy must be clearly stated.

c) Financial statements must honestly and objectively reflect contents and values of reported items; present information on financial status, business performance and cash flows of the accounting unit in a coherent and systematical manner. The accounting unit must provide adequate explanatory notes to the information/data presented in the financial status report, income statement, and cash flow statement as prescribed in this Circular.

d) Information/data presented in the financial statements as prescribed in this Circular must include all economic/financial transactions that arise at the accounting unit. Data on items of the financial statements must match and be consistent with the data on corresponding accounts recorded in the accounting book. Failure to present adequate information/data on economic/financial transactions that occurred in the year on an accounting unit's financial statements shall be considered as omission of data or facts from accounting book.

An accounting unit’s financial statements shall contain financial information of that accounting unit and of its financially dependent units. All internal transactions that are conducted in the year of an accounting unit must be excluded from its financial statements in accordance with provisions of this Circular.

dd) Financial statements must be prepared in a timely manner and within the prescribed time limit, and contain the information/data which is presented in a clear, understandable, and reliable manner, and continuously reflect transactions or events; data of a period must continue that of the previous one.

e) Any acts which are deliberately performed to alter or correct the information/data on the financial statements submitted to competent authorities or publicly disclosed shall be prohibited. All corrections to the financial statements which have been submitted to competent authorities or publicly disclosed must be made in accordance with the principles for correction of information/data set out in this Circular and relevant guidelines.

5. Reporting period

a) Annual financial statements shall be prepared for the accounting period ended December 31 as prescribed in the Law on accounting.

b) In certain cases, the financial statements may be prepared for other accounting periods as prescribed by laws.

6. Time limits and places for submission of annual financial statements

a) Annual financial statements of accounting units must be submitted to competent authorities within 90 days from the end of the annual accounting period as prescribed by law.

b) Annual financial statements shall be submitted to:

- Superior accounting unit.

- Finance authority and state treasury, if an accounting unit is not affiliated to any superior accounting unit, including:

+ An accounting unit falling under the management of local government submits financial statements to the same-level finance authority and the state treasury where transactions are made;

+ An accounting unit falling under the management of central government submits financial statements to the same-level finance authority and the state treasury (the State Accounting Department).

- Tax authority, if an accounting unit's business activities or services are taxable as prescribed by tax laws.

7. Methods for submission of annual financial statements

Annual financial statements shall be submitted in either physical or electronic form, depending on actual conditions and requirements of the receiving authority.

8. Disclosure of annual financial statements

Annual financial statements of accounting units shall be disclosed in accordance with regulations of law on accounting and relevant laws.

9. List of reports, forms and guidelines for preparation of financial statements are provided in Appendix IV “Financial statements” enclosed herewith. Financial statements of units that perform specific activities may be prepared and presented according to specific guidelines or with approval of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam.

Article 10. Printing, sorting and binding for retention of accounting documents and handover of accounting works

1. All accounting documents must be preserved in an adequate and safe manner during use and mandatory retention period as prescribed in the law on accounting. Accounting documents shall be retained in accordance with provisions of the Law on accounting, the Government’s Decree No. 174/2016/ND-CP dated December 30, 2016 elaborating the Law on accounting, and specific guidance on techniques for retention of accounting documents in Appendix V “Procedures for printing, sorting and binding for retention of accounting documents” enclosed herewith.

2. When an accountant is replaced, the handover of all accounting works and accounting documents (including retained accounting documents) between this replaced accountant and the new one must be carried out. The handover record must bear the signature of the chief accountant or acting chief accountant. If the handover is carried out by the chief accountant or acting chief accountant, the handover record must bear signature of the accounting unit’s head.