What are regulations on opening and writing of accounting books and signatures of microfinance institutions in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 83 of the Circular 05/2019/TT-BTC (takes effect from 01/04/2019) stipulating regulations on opening and writing of accounting books and signatures of microfinance institutions in Vietnam as follows:

1. Opening of accounting books

Accounting books must be opened at the beginning of an accounting year. As for newly-established microfinance institutions, accounting books must be opened from the establishment date. Legal representatives and chief accountants of microfinance institutions shall be responsible for signing accounting books for ratification purposes. Accounting books may exist in the form of pages bound together into a book or separate sheets. Pages after being used must be bound into books for archive purposes. Before using accounting books, the following procedures must be implemented:

- As for accounting books in the form of pages bound together into a book, the first page must clearly specify microfinance institution’s name, book title, book opening date, accounting year, term of recording entries in books, full name and signature of bookkeeper, chief accountant and legal representative, book closing date or date of transfer of accounting books to other persons. Accounting books must be paginated from the first page to the last page, and must carry adjoining stamps between two pages.

- As for accounting books in the form of separate sheets, at the beginning of each book, the separate sheet must include microfinance institution’s name, ordinal number of each sheet, book title, useful months and bookkeeper’s full name. Before use, separate sheets must be signed and stamped by the General Director/Director of a microfinance institution, and recorded in the register for use of separate-sheet accounting books. Separate sheets must be arranged in order of bookkeeping accounts to ensure safety and easy traceability.

2. Writing of accounting books must be based on accounting documents proved to conform to regulations on accounting documents. All data input in accounting books must be proved by legitimate and relevant accounting documents.

3. Book closure: At the end of an accounting period, accounting books must be closed before preparation of financial statements. In addition, accounting books must be closed in case of inspection or in other cases in accordance with laws.

4. Bookkeepers of accounting service providers must sign and clearly give the numbers of their practicing certificates, names and addresses of accounting service providers. Bookkeepers as individuals practicing accounting must specify the numbers of their practicing certificates.

Above are regulations on opening and writing of accounting books and signatures of microfinance institutions in Vietnam.

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