Penalties for administrative violations related to accounting and auditing.

Article 8. Penalties for violations of regulations on accounting documents

1. A fine of VND 3.000.000 to VND 5.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) The accounting document template does not contain all the essential information as required by regulations;

b) Erasing or altering accounting documents;

c) Sign accounting documents using red ink that fades easily;

d) Sign accounting documents using a pre-engraved signature stamp;

e) Payment vouchers are not signed on each copy.

2. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Preparing accounting documents with insufficient copies as required for each type of accounting document;

b) Signing accounting documents before all the required information has been entered is the responsibility of the signatory;

c) Signing accounting documents without proper authority;

d) A person's signature is inconsistent with or does not match the signature sample register;

e) Accounting documents lack sufficient signatures according to the designated positions on the documents;

f) Failure to translate accounting documents in foreign languages ​​into Vietnamese as required;

g) Causing damage or loss to accounting documents and records while they are in use.

3. A fine of VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Falsifying or misrepresenting accounting documents, but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability;

b) Agreeing with or coercing others to falsify or misrepresent accounting documents, but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability;

c) Prepare accounting documents with different contents across copies in cases where multiple copies of an accounting document are required for a single economic or financial transaction;

d) Failure to prepare accounting documents when economic or financial transactions occur;

e) Creating multiple accounting documents for a single economic or financial transaction;

f) Making payments when the payment voucher does not have all the required signatures of authorized persons as stipulated by accounting laws.

4. Remedies:

a) Supplementing the incomplete elements of the documentation for the act specified in point a, clause 1 of this Article;

b) To order the cancellation of accounting documents that have been falsified or forged in relation to the acts specified in point a, clause 3 of this Article;

c) Requiring the creation of supplementary documents that were not created when economic or financial transactions occur, in relation to the actions specified in point d, clause 3 of this Article;

d) Forcing the cancellation of accounting documents that have been prepared multiple times for a single economic or financial transaction, in relation to the actions specified in point d, clause 3 of this Article.

Article 9. Penalties for violations of regulations on accounting records

1. A fine of VND 1.000.000 to VND 2.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) The accounting ledger is prepared without clearly stating the name of the accounting unit; the name of the ledger, the date of preparation; the date of closing; lacking the signatures of the person who prepared the ledger, the chief accountant, and the legal representative of the accounting unit; without numbering the pages; and without a seal affixed between the pages of the paper accounting ledger;

b) Accounting ledgers must not be written in ink (except when the entity chooses to use electronic means), with entries inserted above or below existing entries, entries written over existing ones, or entries written with spaces between lines; blank pages must not be crossed out; total figures must not be added up when a page is full; and total figures from a previous page must not be transferred to the beginning of the next page.

c) Not bound into separate books for each accounting period or lacking the required signatures and stamps after printing (except for types of books that are not required to be printed according to regulations in cases where the unit chooses to store accounting books electronically);

d) The accounting ledger template does not contain all the essential information as required by regulations.

2. A fine of VND 3.000.000 to VND 5.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) The accounting records are not fully filled out according to the essential contents as prescribed;

b) Correcting errors in accounting records not in accordance with prescribed methods;

c) Do not print accounting ledgers on paper after closing the books electronically for types of accounting ledgers that are required to be printed on paper according to regulations.

3. A fine of between VND 5.000.000 and VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Failure to open accounting books at the beginning of the accounting year or from the date of establishment of the accounting unit;

b) There are no accounting documents to substantiate the information and figures recorded in the accounting books, or the figures in the accounting books do not match the accounting documents;

c) The information and figures recorded in the accounting books for the current year do not follow the information and figures recorded in the accounting books of the immediately preceding year, or the accounting books are not recorded continuously from the time they are opened until they are closed;

d) Failure to close accounting books in cases where the law requires them to be closed.

4. A fine of VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Premature cancellation or intentional damage to accounting records;

b) Omitting from the accounting records assets and liabilities of the entity, or those related to the entity but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability.

5. Remedies:

a) To require the addition of incomplete elements to the accounting records as stipulated in point a, clause 2 of this Article;

b) Mandating the correction of accounting records to accurately reflect reality in cases where there are no accounting documents to substantiate the information and figures in the accounting records, or where the figures in the accounting records do not match the accounting documents as stipulated in point b, clause 3 of this Article;

c) Mandating the correction of accounting records to accurately reflect reality in cases where the information and figures recorded in the accounting records of the current year do not follow the information and figures recorded in the accounting records of the immediately preceding year as stipulated in point c, clause 3 of this Article;

d) To compel the restoration of accounting records for violations of the regulations specified in point a, clause 4 of this Article;

e) Mandatory inclusion in the accounting records of acts of keeping assets and liabilities of the entity or related to the entity that violated the provisions of point b, clause 4 of this Article.

Article 10. Penalties for violations regarding tax registration deadlines; notification of temporary suspension of business operations; and notification of resumption of business operations before the deadline.

1. A warning penalty will be issued for violations related to tax registration; notification of temporary suspension of business operations; and notification of resumption of business operations before the prescribed deadline, ranging from 01 to 10 days, provided there are mitigating circumstances.

2. A fine of between VND 1.000.000 and VND 2.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Tax registration; notification of resumption of business before the previously announced deadline, exceeding the prescribed deadline by 1 to 30 days, except as stipulated in Clause 01 of this Article;

b) Notifying the temporary suspension of business operations beyond the prescribed time limit, except in cases specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Failure to notify authorities of the temporary suspension of business operations.

3. A fine of VND 3.000.000 to VND 6.000.000 will be imposed for the following violations: registering for tax; notifying the resumption of business before the previously announced deadline, exceeding the prescribed deadline by 31 to 90 days.

4. A fine of between VND 6.000.000 and VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Tax registration; notification of resumption of business operations before the previously announced deadline, exceeding the prescribed deadline by 91 days or more;

b) Failure to notify the authorities of the resumption of business operations before the announced deadline, but without incurring any tax liability.

Article 10. Penalties for violations of regulations on accounting accounts

1. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Accounting entries that do not conform to the prescribed content of the accounting account;

b) Making modifications to the content or accounting methods of accounting accounts, or opening additional accounting accounts, which require approval from the Ministry of Finance but have not yet been approved.

2. A fine of VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed for the act of failing to properly implement the accounting chart of accounts issued or approved by the Ministry of Finance.

Article 11. Penalties for violations of regulations on the preparation and presentation of financial statements.

1. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Preparing financial statements that are incomplete or not in the correct format as prescribed;

b) Financial statements lacking the signatures of the preparer, chief accountant, accounting manager, or legal representative of the accounting unit.

2. A fine of VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Failure to prepare complete financial reports as required;

b) Applying financial reporting formats different from those prescribed by accounting standards and regulations, except in cases approved by the Ministry of Finance.

3. A fine of between VND 20.000.000 and VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Failure to prepare financial statements as required;

b) Preparing financial statements that do not match the figures in the accounting books and accounting documents;

c) Preparing and presenting financial statements in a manner that does not comply with accounting regulations and accounting standards.

4. A fine of VND 40.000.000 to VND 50.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Falsifying financial statements, providing false information in financial statements but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability;

b) Agreeing with or coercing others to falsify financial statements or provide false information in financial statements, but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability;

c) Intentionally, by agreement, or coercing others to provide or confirm false accounting information or data, but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability.

5. Remedies:

a) To compel the preparation and presentation of financial statements in accordance with accounting regulations and accounting standards for violations of the provisions of Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Mandatory destruction of falsified or fraudulent financial statements for violations of the provisions of Clause 4 of this Article.

Article 12. Penalties for violations of regulations on submission and disclosure of financial reports.

1. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Submitting financial reports to the competent state agency less than 03 months late compared to the prescribed deadline;

b) Publicly disclosing financial statements less than 03 months after the prescribed deadline.

2. A fine of VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Publicly disclosing financial statements that do not contain all the required information;

b) Submitting financial statements to the competent state agency without attaching an audit report in cases where the law requires financial statements to be audited;

c) Submitting financial reports to the competent state agency more than 03 months late compared to the prescribed deadline;

d) Publicly disclosing financial statements without accompanying audit reports in cases where the law requires financial statements to be audited;

e) Publicly disclosing financial statements more than 03 months late compared to the prescribed deadline.

3. A fine of VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Information and data publicly disclosed in financial reports are false;

b) Providing and publishing financial reports for use in Vietnam that contain inconsistent data within a single accounting period.

4. A fine of VND 40.000.000 to VND 50.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Failure to submit financial reports to the competent state authority;

b) Failure to publicly disclose financial reports as required by regulations.

5. Remedies:

The submission and public disclosure of the audit report attached to the financial statements is mandatory for violations of the regulations specified in points b and d of Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 15. Penalties for violations of regulations on the preservation and storage of accounting documents.

1. A warning penalty will be issued for any of the following acts:

a) Submitting accounting documents to the archives 12 months or more later than the prescribed deadline;

b) Failure to organize accounting documents for archiving in chronological order of occurrence and according to the accounting year.

2. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Incomplete storage of accounting documents as required by regulations;

b) Failure to securely store accounting documents, resulting in damage or loss of documents within the retention period;

c) Using accounting documents outside the prescribed retention period;

d) Failure to organize the inventory, classification, and recovery of lost or destroyed accounting documents.

3. A fine of VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Destroying accounting documents before the retention period stipulated by the Accounting Law has expired, but not to the extent of incurring criminal liability;

b) Failure to establish a destruction council, failure to follow proper destruction methods, and failure to create a destruction record as required when destroying accounting documents.

Article 17. Penalties for violations of regulations on the organization of accounting systems, the appointment of accounting personnel, or the hiring of accounting services.

1. A fine of VND 5.000.000 to VND 10.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Hiring organizations or individuals who do not meet the qualifications and conditions for practicing accounting to provide accounting services for one's own entity;

b) Failure to reappoint the chief accountant or head of accounting within the prescribed timeframe;

c) Failure to organize a handover of accounting duties when there are changes in the accounting staff, chief accountant, or accounting manager;

d) Failure to notify as required when changing the chief accountant or head of accounting.

2. A fine of VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Failure to organize an accounting department within the accounting unit; failure to appoint an accountant, chief accountant, or to hire an organization or individual providing accounting services to act as an accountant or chief accountant as required by regulations;

b) Appointing an accountant who is prohibited by law from performing accounting duties;

c) Appointing accountants, chief accountants, or accounting managers who do not meet the required qualifications and conditions;

d) Appointing the chief accountant or person in charge of accounting without following the prescribed procedures.

3. A fine of VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 for one of the following acts:

a) Assigning a person responsible for managing and operating the accounting unit to also act as accountant, warehouse manager, cashier, or in the buying and selling of assets, except for private enterprises, limited liability companies owned by a single individual, enterprises of other types without state capital, and micro-enterprises as defined by the law on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises;

b) Appointing a chief accountant who does not meet the prescribed qualifications and conditions;

c) Hiring a chief accountant who does not meet the required qualifications and conditions.

4. Remedies:

Appoint or hire qualified accountants, chief accountants, or accounting managers in accordance with regulations for the cases specified in points a and b of clause 1; points b and c of clause 2; and points b and c of clause 3 of this Article.