DECREE

Decree No. 39/2011/ND-CP of May 26, 2011, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 185/2004/ND-CP of November 4, 2004, on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to December 25, 2011 Law No. 32/2001/QH10 on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to June 17, 2003 Accounting Law No. 03/2003/QH11;

Pursuant to July 2, 2002 Ordinance No. 44/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 on Handling of Administrative Violations and April 2, 2008 Ordinance No. 04/2008/PL-UBTVQH12 Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance,

DECREES:

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 185/2004/ND-CP of November 4, 2004, on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting:

1. To amend and supplement Clause 2 of Article 1 as follows:

“2. Administrative violations in the field of accounting include:

a) Violations of regulations on accounting vouchers;

b) Violations of regulations on accounting books;

c) Violations of regulations on accounting accounts;

d) Violations on regulations on financial statements, settlement statements and disclosure of financial statements;

e) Violations of regulations on accounting inspection;

f) Violations of regulations on preservation and archival of accounting documents;

g) Violations of regulations on asset inventory;

h) Violations of regulations on organization of accounting apparatuses and arrangement or hire of accountants;

i) Violations of regulations on accounting practice;

j) Violations of regulations on application of accounting standards, accounting regimes and other regulations;

k) Violations of regulations on organization of training courses and grant of training certificates for chief accountants”.

2. To amend Article 5 as follows:

“Article 5. Forms of sanctions of administrative violations in the field of accounting

1. For each act of administrative violation in the field of accounting, individuals or organizations are subject to either of the following principal sanctions:

a) Caution;

b) A fine of between VND 200,000 and 30,000,000.

2. Depending on the nature and severity of their violations, violators may also be subject to the additional sanctions specified in Clause 5 of Article 7, Clause 5 of Article 8, and Clause 2 of Article 15 of this Decree.

3. In addition to the sanctions specified in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article, violators may also be subject to one or more than one of remedial measures specified in Clause 6 of Article 7, Clause 6 of Article 8, Clause 3 of Article 9, Clause 3 of Article 10, Clause 3 of Article 14, Clause 3 of Article 15 and Clause 3 of Article 16 of this Decree. 

4. The specific fine level imposed for an act of administrative violation is the average level of the fine bracket prescribed in Chapter II of this Decree for such act; if extenuating circumstances exist, the fine level may be reduced but must not be lower than the minimum level of the fine bracket; if aggravating circumstances exist, the fine level may be increased but must not be higher than the maximum level of the fine bracket.”

3. To amend and supplement Article 7 as follows:

“Article 7. Violations of regulations on accounting vouchers

1. A fine of between VND 200,000 and 2,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Making accounting vouchers without sufficient principal details prescribed by the accounting law;

b) Erasing or tampering with accounting vouchers;

c) Signing accounting vouchers in contravention of regulations on signatures of post holders required for each type of accounting voucher.

2. A fine of between VND 2,000,000 and 10,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Making accounting vouchers with insufficient number of copies as required for each type of accounting voucher;

b) Signing accounting vouchers without filling in all items under the signatories’ responsibility;

c) Signing accounting vouchers when having no competence or authorization to sign;

d) Making sale invoices but failing to hand them to customers according to regulations.

3. A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Forging or making false declarations on accounting vouchers;

b) Agreeing with or compelling other persons to forge or make false declarations on accounting vouchers;

c) Making an accounting voucher with its copies containing different contents, for cases in which a voucher with multiple copies must be made for a single arisen economic or financial operation;

d) Failing to make accounting vouchers for arisen economic or financial operations (except cases of selling goods without making invoices specified in Clause 4 of this Article);

e) Deliberately making more than once an accounting voucher for a single arisen economic or financial operation;

f) Destroying or deliberately damaging accounting vouchers.

4. A fine of between VND 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for acts of selling goods without making sale invoices according to regulations.

5. Additional sanctions:

a) Confiscation of accounting vouchers, for the violations specified at Points a and b, Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Deprivation of the right to use accounting practice certificates, for practitioners committing the violations specified in Clause 3 of this Article.

6. Application of remedial measures:

a) Forcible making of accounting vouchers for arisen economic or financial operations, for the violations specified at Point d, Clause 3, and in Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Forcible restoration of accounting vouchers according to actual operations and regulations, for the violations specified at Points a, b and c, Clause 1, Points a, b and c, Clause 2, and Points c and f, Clause 3 of this Article;

c) Forcible destruction of accounting vouchers made excessively for a single operation, for the violations specified at Point e, Clause 3 of this Article.

4. To amend Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 8 as follows:

“3. A fine of between VND 5,000,000 and 15,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Failing to open accounting books at the beginning of the annual accounting period or from the date of establishment of the accounting unit;

b) Having no accounting vouchers evidencing information and figures recorded in accounting books or having figures recorded in accounting books inconsistent with accounting vouchers;

c) Falling to record information and figures in accounting books of an accounting year in succession to those recorded in accounting books of the preceding year or failing to make continuous entries in an accounting book from the time of opening to the time of closing;

d) Failing to close accounting books in case accounting books must be closed according to the accounting law;

e) Failing to print out accounting books on paper after closing computerized books, for books which must be printed out according to regulations, or failing to obtain sufficient signatures and stamps on printed accounting books according to regulations.

4. A fine of between VND 15,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Opening accounting books outside the system of official accounting books of the unit;

b) Forging accounting books;

c) Reaching agreement with or compelling other persons to forge accounting books;

d) Deliberately leaving assets of or related to the unit out of accounting books;

e) Destroying accounting books ahead of schedule or deliberately damaging them.”

5. To amend Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 9 as follows:

“1. A fine of between VND 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Performing accounting at variance with the contents of accounting accounts;

b) Modifying accounting contents and methods applicable to accounting accounts promulgated by the Ministry of Finance or opening additional accounting accounts within the system of grade-I accounting accounts without the Ministry of Finance’s approval.

2. A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Failing to apply the system of accounting accounts prescribed for the unit’s sector or domain;

b) Failing to adhere to the system of accounts already approved by the Ministry of Finance.”

6. To amend and supplement Article 10 as follows:

“Article 10. Violations of regulations on financial statements, settlement statements and disclosure of financial statements

1. A fine of between VND 5,000,000 and 15,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Failing to make financial statements or making financial statements with insufficient contents according to regulations;

b) Making and presenting financial statements in an improper, unclear or inconsistent manner;

c) Submitting financial statements or settlement statements to competent state agencies between 1 and 3 months later than the set deadline;

d) Disclosing financial statements with insufficient contents according to regulations;

e) Disclosing financial statements between 1 and 3 months later than the set deadline.

2. A fine of between VND 15,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Submitting financial statements or settlement statements to competent state agencies more than 3 months later than the set deadline;

b) Making financial statements with figures different from those on accounting books and accounting vouchers;

c) Forging financial statements or falsifying figures in financial statements;

d) Reaching agreement with or compelling other persons to forge financial statements or falsifying figures in financial statements;

e) Deliberately providing or certifying untrue accounting information and figures or reaching agreement with or compelling other persons to provide or certify untrue accounting information and figures;

f) Disclosing financial statements more than 3 months later than the set deadline;

g) Using untrue information and figures in the disclosed financial statements;

h) Submitting financial statements to competent state agencies without enclosed audit reports, for cases in which audit is required by law.

3. Application of remedial measures: Forcible compliance with the accounting law, for the violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

4. Additional sanction: Rejection of financial statements, for the violations specified at Points b, c, d, e and g, Clause 2 of this Article.”

7. To amend and supplement Clause 1 of Article 15 as follows:

“1. A fine of between VND 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Accounting-practicing organizations or individuals failing to register the business line of accounting service provision;

b) Lawful representatives of accounting service providers failing to obtain an accounting practice certificate;

c) Accounting-practicing enterprises or individuals failing to satisfy operation conditions according to regulations but still providing accounting services;

d) Individuals practicing accounting without an accounting practice certificate;

e) Hiring organizations or individuals unqualified for practicing accounting to work as accountants or chief accountants;

f) Parents, spouses, children or siblings of persons in charge of managing or administering an accounting unit, including chief accountants, persons with economic or financial relations or professionally unqualified persons accepting to perform accounting for the accounting unit, or accepting to perform accounting when the accounting unit has requests contrary to accounting professional ethics or operations;

g) Leasing or lending accounting practice certificates.”

8. To amend and supplement Clause 2 of Article 16 as follows:

“2. A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for acts of allowing others to use bank deposit accounts or state treasury deposit accounts of the unit for receiving and transferring money for monetary activities in violation of regulations on financial, budget and capital use management.”

9. To add the following Article 16a below Article 16:

“Article 16a. Violations in organization of chief-accountant training courses and grant of chief-accountant certificates

1. A fine of between VND 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Violating regulations on procedures for organizing training courses;

b) Violating regulations on forms of training courses;

c) Violating regulations on making notices or reports on training courses.

2. A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Violating regulations on training contents, programs and duration;

b) Violating regulations on the use of chief accountant-training materials;

c) Violating regulations on preservation of dossiers related to training courses.

3. A fine of between VND 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 shall be imposed for any of following acts:

a) Violating regulations on conditions for organizing training courses;

b) Violating regulations on trainee criteria;

c) Violating regulations on examination and evaluation of training results;

d) Violating regulations on the rights and responsibilities of training establishments;

e) Violating regulations on printing and grant of chief-accountant certificates”.

10. To amend Article 18 as follows:

“Article 18. Sanctioning competence of the finance inspectorate

1. On-duty finance inspectors of all levels may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 500,000;

c) Apply the remedial measures specified in Clause 3, Article 5 of this Decree.

2. Chief inspectors of provincial-level Finance Departments may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 30,000,000;

c) Apply the additional sanctions and remedial measures specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 5 of this Decree.

3. The chief inspector of the Ministry of Finance may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 30,000,000;

c) Apply the additional sanctions and remedial measures specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 5 of this Decree.”

11. To amend Article 19 as follows:

“Article 19. Sanctioning competence of People’s Committees of all levels:

1. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of communes, wards and townships (below collectively referred to as commune-level People’s Committees) may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 2,000,000;

c) Apply the remedial measures specified in Clause 3, Article 5 of this Decree.

2. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of districts and provincial towns and cities (below collectively referred to as district-level People’s Committees) may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 30,000,000;

c) Apply the additional sanctions and remedial measures specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 5 of this Decree.

3. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities (below collectively referred to as provincial-level People’s Committees) may:

a) Issue a caution;

b) Impose fines of up to VND 30,000,000;

c) Apply the additional sanctions and remedial measures specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 5 of this Decree.”

12. To amend and supplement Article 20 as follows:

“Article 20. Authorization of the sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting

1. Persons competent to sanction administrative violations specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 18, and Article 19 of this Decree may grant authorization only to their deputies. In this case, a letter of authorization must be made, clearly stating the scope, contents and duration of authorization.

2. Deputies authorized to handle administrative violations shall take responsibility before their heads and law for their decisions on handling of administrative violations and may not further authorize this power to any other individuals.”

13. To amend and supplement Clause 2 of Article 23 as follows:

“2. Procedures for sanctioning administrative violations in the field of accounting comply with the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations and Chapter IV of the Government’s Decree No. 128/2008/ND-CP of December 16, 2008, detailing a number of articles of the 2002 Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations and the 2008 Ordinance Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations.”

14. To amend and supplement Article 24 as follows:

“Article 24. Enforcement of administrative violation-sanctioning decisions

The enforcement of decisions on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting complies with Articles 66 and 66a of the 2002 Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations, the 2008 Ordinance Amending and Supplementing the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations and the Government’s Decree No. 37/2005/ND-CP of March 18, 2005, providing procedures for application of measures to enforce administrative violation-sanctioning decisions.”

15. To add the following Article 29a below Article 29:

“Article 29a. Promulgation of forms of the record on administrative violations and decision on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting

1. The form of the record on administrative violations in the field of accounting is provided in Appendix I to this Decree (not printed herein).

2. The form of the decision on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting domains is provided in Appendix II to this Decree (not printed herein).”

Article 2. Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on August 1, 2011.

2. Previous regulations on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of accounting which are contrary to this Decree are all annulled.

Article 3. Organization of implementation

1. The Minister of Finance shall guide the implementation of this Decree.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Decree.