What accounting periods are there in a year in Vietnam? What are penalties for violations against regulations on accounting period in Vietnam?

1. What accounting periods are there in a year in Vietnam?

Article 12 of the 2015 Accounting Law stipulates the accounting period, specifically as follows:

1. Accounting periods include annual accounting periods, quarterly accounting periods, and monthly accounting periods. To be specific:

a) An annual accounting period is 12 months from January 01 to the end of December 31. Any accounting unit, because of its difference in organizational structure or operation, that is allowed to begin the annual accounting period on the 1^st of the first month of a quarter and end it on the last day of the last month of the next four quarter must notify the finance authority and tax authority.

b) A quarterly accounting period lasts for 03 months from the 1^st of the first month of the quarter to the last day of the last month of the quarter;

c) A monthly accounting period lasts for 01 month from the 1^st to the last day of the month.

2. Accounting periods of a new accounting unit:

a) The first accounting period of a new enterprise begins on the issuance date of the Certificate of Enterprise Registration and ends on the last day of the annual, quarterly, or monthly accounting period specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) The first accounting period of another accounting unit other than a new enterprise begins on the issuance date of the decision on establishment of the accounting unit and ends on the last day of the annual, quarterly, or monthly accounting period specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Where an accounting unit is divided, consolidated, merged, converted, transferred, dissolved, shut down, or bankrupt, the last accounting period begins on the first day of the annual, quarterly, or monthly accounting period specified in Clause 1 of this Article and ends on the day preceding the effective date of the decision on division, consolidation, merger, conversion, transfer, dissolution, shutdown, or bankruptcy of the accounting unit.

4. If the first or last annual accounting period is shorter than 90 days, it may be aggregated with the next or previous annual accounting period, respectively; the first or last annual accounting period must be shorter than 15 months.

Thus, for the above regulations, there will be three accounting periods in a year in Vietnam, including annual accounting periods (12 months), quarterly accounting periods (03 months), and monthly accounting periods (01 month).

2. What are penalties for violations against regulations on accounting period in Vietnam?

According to Article 7 of Decree 41/2018/ND-CP on penalties for violations against accounting law’s general provisions, according to which:

1. A fine ranging from VND 10.000.000 to VND 20.000.000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Misapplication of regulations on letters and numbers in accounting;

b) Misapplication of regulations on monetary units in accounting;

c) Misapplication of regulations on accounting periods;

d) Misapplication of applicable accounting regulations.

2. A fine of VND 20.000.000 to VND 30.000.000 shall be imposed for promulgating or publishing accounting standards, audit standards or accounting regulations ultra vires.

According to this Article, when there is a violation against regulations on accounting period in Vietnam, the accounting unit may be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND.

Best Regards!