Joint Circular No. 09-TT/LB provides additional explanations on the allowance system for chief accountants.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Additional explanation on the allowance system for chief accountants

The two Ministries of Finance and Labour issued Circular No. 17-TT/LB dated October 25, 1972 to stipulate allowances for chief accountants, and on January 5, 1973, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 01-TC-CĐKT to provide guidance, but implementation has still faced difficulties. Therefore, the two Ministries issue this circular to further explain the following points:

I. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF ACCOUNTANTS

The joint circular stipulates that chief accountants must be officially appointed before they can receive position allowances, with the aim of ensuring that the appointment of chief accountants follows proper procedures and meets the criteria for cadres.

To ensure that there are chief accountants who meet the criteria and can effectively perform their duties as prescribed by accounting organization regulations, the State has stipulated that all sectors and levels need to properly prepare, including planning for cadre training, development, and selection, and determining which agencies and enterprises have the necessary conditions to appoint chief accountants and making them aware of the role, functions, and responsibilities of chief accountants to support and create favorable conditions for them to perform their tasks well. Based on this spirit, any sector or level that has officially appointed a chief accountant, or officially assigned the responsibility for accounting work to a head of department or group leader in units not yet implementing accounting as prescribed, may implement the position allowance system. Where conditions are not yet met, active preparation should be made before implementation, and under no circumstances should the thorough preparation regarding organizational and cadre matters be overlooked just to expedite the provision of additional allowances, as this would reduce the effectiveness of the chief accountant system. The appointment of chief accountants must comply with cadre standards, so not all heads of accounting and finance departments are automatically chief accountants.

II. THE ISSUE OF RECLASSIFYING SALARIES TO APPLY POSITION ALLOWANCES FOR CHIEF ACCOUNTANTS

The joint circular stipulates that chief accountants can only receive position allowances if they have been classified according to the salary scale for accounting cadres and staff (currently the salary scale for employees, cadres, and specialists). If currently classified according to the leadership cadre salary scale such as department heads, deputy directors of enterprises, division chiefs, deputy division chiefs in some General Departments... then after being reclassified into the cadre and specialist salary scale, they will receive position allowances.

According to the above provisions, chief accountants who were appointed and classified according to the employee, cadre, and specialist salary scales retain their current salaries and receive additional position allowances. In cases where they were classified according to the department head and deputy director salary scales, they must first be reclassified into the cadre and specialist salary scale before receiving position allowances.

To ensure consistent implementation of the principle above and to maintain reasonable salary relationships with other types of cadres while taking into account the actual situation of current salary classification, for certain cases where transitioning to the cadre and specialist salary scale encounters difficulties, the application of position allowances will be handled as follows:

1. Prior to the issuance of Joint Circular No. 17-TT/LB dated October 25, 1972, which established the allowance system for chief accountants, if a chief accountant was appointed and simultaneously classified and increased in salary according to the department head salary scale, and now transitioning to the cadre and specialist salary scale would result in a lower salary than the current one, thus not reclassified, they continue to enjoy the previously classified salary but do not receive position allowances.

2. After the issuance of Circular No. 17-TT/LB dated October 25, 1972, if someone is promoted to department head and classified according to the department head salary scale, and subsequently appointed as chief accountant, but transitioning to the cadre and specialist salary scale encounters difficulties as mentioned in point 1, they continue to enjoy the previously classified salary, and whether they receive position allowances or not is decided by the heads of each sector and level based on the salary relationship among cadres within each unit.

The temporary handling of certain cases that have not transitioned to the cadre and specialist salary scale and have not received chief accountant position allowances as described above is only temporary. When conditions permit, it must be resolved according to the prescribed principles. From now on, when appointing chief accountants, they must be classified according to the cadre and specialist salary scale, and cannot arbitrarily classify and increase salaries according to the department head or deputy director salary scales.

III. CLASSIFICATION AND RATING OF ENTERPRISES TO APPLY DIFFERENT ALLOWANCE LEVELS

1. The allowance levels for chief accountants are determined based on the type and rating of enterprises, hence it is necessary to classify and rate enterprises to apply these levels.

a) Generally, for enterprises that have already been rated, the chief accountant position allowance is applied according to the enterprise's rating. If an enterprise needs to be re-rated to match its development, the relevant ministries, general departments, provincial, and city administrative committees propose specific rating criteria, seek comments from the Ministry of Labour, and then decide on re-rating.

b) For enterprises that have rating criteria approved by the Ministry of Labour, based on the enterprise's development situation, if it meets the criteria for a certain rating, it will be adjusted to that rating.

c) For enterprises that have not been rated, the relevant ministries, general departments, provincial, and city administrative committees need to promptly carry out rating according to current regulations. While waiting for official rating, if a chief accountant has been officially appointed, they do not receive position allowances until the enterprise is officially rated, at which point they will receive the allowance level corresponding to the enterprise's rating, without backpay.

2) For public institutions, central sector management departments need to propose appropriate allowance levels, exchange and unify opinions with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labour, and issue guidelines for implementation, for example:

- The Ministry of Higher Education and Specialized Secondary Education will propose allowance levels for chief accountants in universities and specialized secondary schools.

- The Ministry of Health will propose allowance levels for chief accountants in hospitals, sanatoriums, convalescent homes, etc.

If the procedure above is not followed correctly, the allowance system for chief accountants cannot be implemented even if appointments have been made.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND TIMEFRAME

1. The Circular shall take effect from the date of issuance. However, to implement the position allowance for chief accountants, each sector and locality needs time to prepare, therefore chief accountants will only be entitled to the position allowance from the date when the competent authority issues the decision granting such entitlement, without retroactive payment.

2. Sectors and localities that have issued circulars or implemented the chief accountant position allowance regime inconsistent with the guidance of this Circular need to correct their guidance or implementation to ensure uniform enforcement.