1. Current situation
As of July 2020, there were 93.425 foreign workers in Vietnam, of which 21.641 had not yet returned to Vietnam due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These were mainly experts/workers with high technical and professional qualifications and management experience in businesses.
In March 2020, a large number of business owners sought to return to their home countries before Vietnam implemented a temporary lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This, coupled with businesses wanting hard copies of audit reports, put auditing firms in a difficult position, facing significant pressure from clients to issue audit reports before business owners left Vietnam.
In some other cases, when business management has left Vietnam, printing and sending audit reports abroad for relevant parties to sign and then returning them also takes considerable time and carries the risk of report loss for both sides.
In the era of Industry 4.0, the boundaries of how work is performed seem to be blurring geographical lines, no longer dependent on traditional geographical distances. More and more auditors will work remotely, posing logistical challenges to the signing and issuance of audit reports. Auditors must carefully consider the most efficient and effective way to coordinate the signing of documents via mail using handwritten signatures versus digital signatures.
So why not apply digital signatures to auditors?
2. Benefits of digital signatures
The advent of digital signatures is a revolution that has contributed to the complete transformation of manual data in organizations and businesses into electronic data. Digital signatures fully meet the requirements of legal validity and security, while also making the transmission of electronic documents online much faster and more efficient.
A digital signature is a form of electronic signature based on public-key cryptography. It serves as a personal signature or a business seal and is legally recognized.
Each user account has a pair of keys: a public key and a private key. The public key is used to verify the digital signature, authenticating the user of the digital signature. The private key is used to create the digital signature. Currently, businesses consider digital signatures as an authentication technology that ensures security and safety for online transactions, helps resolve data integrity issues, and provides irrefutable evidence against repudiation of responsibility for signed content, giving businesses peace of mind regarding their electronic transactions.
Handwritten signatures are no longer required in most cases, and digital signatures have been used for many years to file taxes online, declare customs electronically, conduct electronic securities transactions, and file insurance returns, eliminating the need for businesses to print and stamp declaration forms.
Therefore, digital signatures are increasingly playing an important role in the technological age, saving costs, personnel, time, and simplifying procedures, thereby promoting economic integration and international development, leading to the country's further progress.
3. Benefits of using digital signatures (electronic signatures) for auditors
- Saving time in issuing audit reports, instead of having to circulate reports and perform manual signing, the transacting parties can quickly and accurately sign digitally;
- Reduced printing costs: Submitting audited financial reports online with digital signatures will help reduce printing, paper costs, and improve environmental protection;
- Reduced travel time and report delivery risks: After being digitally signed, reports will be sent to relevant parties via email, thereby reducing travel time and delivery risks.
- Signable anytime, anywhere: giving auditors flexibility in handling work regardless of their location;
- This increases security and data protection, facilitates work verification between parties, and enhances accountability after signing.
With the clear benefits mentioned above, along with changes in the working and business environment, the use of digital signatures for auditors to sign audit reports is expected to be implemented in the not-too-distant future.