JOINT CIRCULAR No. 19/TT-LB On closing the books on state budget revenues and expenditures for the year 1979.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Regarding the closure of revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget at the end of 1979.

___________________

In 1979, various sectors and localities initially implemented Directive No. 33-CT/TW of the Party Central Committee, Resolution No. 33-CP and No. 108-CP of the Council of Ministers on financial management and budget decentralization to provincial and district-level state authorities; some districts have established themselves as a level with their own budgets and have begun to manage the state budget locally. The provisions regarding the closure of revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget at the end of the year according to Circular No. 14/TT-LB dated November 25, 1977 continue to be applied for 1979, while being expanded to the district or equivalent level.

This circular reiterates and supplements certain points in the work of closing revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget at agencies, units, enterprises, and economic organizations from central to provincial levels and district or equivalent levels.

I. Significance, effects, and scope of application

Closing the revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget at the end of each year is a financial discipline system that has a positive effect on promoting production and business activities, improving management work, and contributing to the successful completion of revenue and expenditure tasks assigned by the State. All Ministries, sectors, state agencies, enterprises, and other state organizations, through this work of closing the accounts verify again the sources of funds and operating costs of their units, delve deeply into analyzing the results of economic and financial operations of their units, review the extent to which they have fulfilled the revenue and expenditure tasks assigned by the State, and must take active measures to enhance efforts to exceed these tasks in the remaining days of the year.

Doing well the work of closing the revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget also creates conditions for agencies and units final settlement to accurately, fully, and promptly obtain the figures for revenue and expenditure of the State budget, truthfully reflect the effectiveness of the capital of their units, draw lessons to fully leverage positive aspects, overcome weaknesses, and improve management quality in subsequent years.

The work of closing the revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget at the end of the year is carried out at the State Bank (domestic banks and foreign trade banks) and in all sectors, levels, agencies, enterprises, and budgetary units at the central, provincial, and district levels or equivalent levels.

Units need to:

- Pay all revenues due to the State budget for 1979 to the bank before the date and time of closing the accounts.

- Organize the implementation of necessary expenditures according to the plan before the end of the year, avoiding wasteful spending, ensuring the operation of the unit, and strictly adhering to the principle of thrift.

- Close the revenue and expenditure accounts for the State budget for 1979 at their own agencies and enterprises matching the State Bank branch in terms of timing and figures by type, category, item of revenue and expenditure.

II. Preparations before closing the accounts

A. Collection of State budget revenues.

All sectors, levels, agencies, and units must ensure the task of collecting revenues into the State budget. Before the State Bank at all levels closes the revenue and expenditure accounts, units must actively prepare to implement the following specific tasks:

1. All revenues belonging to the State budget for 1979, including profits exceeding the plan (if any), and arrears from previous years, must be paid in full to the State budget at the State Bank branches no later than December 31, 1979.If paid after that date, it will be considered as payment for 1980 and will not be counted towards the achievement of the State budget revenue collection target for 1979.

Ministries, sectors, and localities must proactively calculate and check the remaining revenue collection tasks of the 1979 plan, specifically for each enterprise association and subordinate unit; take measures to urge and ensure the completion and overfulfillment of the revenue collection tasks for the State in 1979 within each unit in the entire sector or level.

Each revenue collection unit must review its own revenue collection tasks, the amount of revenue collected into the State budget in 1979, and promptly pay not only the shortfall compared to the annual revenue collection plan but also the full amount of additional income and other revenues required to be paid into the State budget, including payments made within the first 20 days of December, without concentrating all payments on December 31, 1979.

Financial officers of enterprises, finance department staff responsible for specialized financial management, and credit and monetary transaction officers of the State Bank at all levels need to closely cooperate with each other to review the financial operations of the enterprises under their responsibility, carefully calculate with the financial departments of the enterprises to avoid missing any revenue that should be paid into the State budget and also avoid overpayment.

Any enterprise or revenue collection unit that deliberately uses funds intended for State budget payments to secure approval of the fulfillment of the revenue collection plan and to gain benefits from enterprise fund allocations, then requests refunds at the beginning of 1980, shall be considered as violating financial discipline.

2. Departments of Finance and Price Control Boards at the county level need to closely coordinate with the State Bank at the same level to complete by December 31, 1979 the adjustment and refund of revenues between the central government budget and local budgets, and between provincial and municipal budgets and district budgets according to the allocation ratios specified for 1979.

3. Any agencies, enterprises, units, sectors, and localities that still retain separate or illegal funds must declare them to the finance authority and pay them into the State budget for 1979 during the year-end account closure period, regardless of the source of the funds.

The State Bank and local finance authorities need to strengthen inspections of the sources of deposits; if found to be funds that should be paid into the State budget, measures should be taken to recover them into the budget.

As of December 31, 1979, if any economic unit or administrative and public service agency fails to declare and remit to the state budget (units under central ministries shall remit to the central state budget; units under provinces and cities shall remit to the provincial or city state budget; units under districts shall remit to the district state budget), and such failure is discovered, the head of the unit shall be responsible for the illegal act.

4. Departments, stations, tax collection agencies, commercial stores in cities, towns, and townships - due to the characteristic of collecting tax and sales revenue after the closing time of the State Bank but still belonging to the state budget in 1979 - must consult with the bank where they regularly conduct transactions before organizing the collection of these funds on the following day and recording them in the remittance account of 1979.

5. The State Bank branch must allocate staff, mobilize all available forces, prepare adequately, ensure rapid and complete collection, and fully record in the state budget of 1979. In cities and towns with many sources of revenue and large amounts of remittances, the bank must organize timely collections, absolutely not allowing the remittances of 1979 to be carried over to 1980.

If any collection unit has a large amount of cash that cannot be counted and received on December 31, 1979, the State Bank branch must organize the collection according to the sealed bag system prescribed by the Central State Bank.

6. For provisional receipts, receipts that cannot be classified by category, receipts outside the state budget, the State Bank branch must coordinate with the financial authority at the same level and the collection unit to adjust all such receipts into the formal categories and subcategories of the state budget for 1979 before the final closing time of the year. At the closing time, if there are any unadjusted receipts, the bank must work together with the financial authority to process them into the "Other Receipts" category of the state budget for 1979.

B. Payment of budget expenditures.

The payment of end-of-year expenses must prevent the situation of "running capital," "rushing to spend all allocated funds" at the end of the year; for necessary expenditures, timely arrangements should be made so that the expenditure can be implemented and settled in the state budget of 1979.

To achieve this requirement, the following preparations must be made early:

1. Financial authorities must determine the date for approving the budget limits, and the State Bank must determine the date for transferring notifications of the distribution of budget limits for 1979.

a. For the central state budget

The Ministry of Finance and the Central State Bank must set the latest deadline for completing the approval of budget limits and transferring notifications of the distribution of budget limits for the central state budget and subsidies to local budgets as follows:

+ By 16:00 on December 20, 1979, for units under the central budget located in the South from Quang Nam - Da Nang southward and in Binh Tri Thien, Nghe Tinh, Ha Tuyen, Son La, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Hoang Lien Son, and Quang Ninh.

+ By 16:00 on December 22, 1979, for units located in other northern regions (excluding Hanoi).

+ By 16:00 on December 26, 1979, for units located in Hanoi.

- Units under the central budget located in the South have the right to distribute budget limits to subordinate third-level units and must complete the distribution of budget limits according to the following deadlines:

+ By 16:00 on December 24, 1979, for third-level units located in provinces and cities other than where the second-level unit is based.

+ By 16:00 on December 26, 1979, for third-level units located in the same province or city as the second-level unit.

b. For provincial and municipal budgets and district budgets.

Provincial and municipal finance bureaus, together with provincial and municipal State Banks, county finance and price control boards, and State Bank branches, must set the latest deadline for completing the approval and distribution of budget limits and transferring funds within their own budgets, in accordance with the specific conditions of each locality. The principle is to base the time required for the circulation of documents from the approving or distributing entity to the receiving entity, ensuring that the budget limit reaches the grassroots level in time for use. Therefore, units located further away must plan earlier to avoid hindering and affecting the activities of the units. All units directly spending, regardless of which budget they belong to, must cease issuing "advance payment checks," "standardized checks," or "transfer checks" from 16:00 on December 22, 1979, ensuring that issued checks have sufficient time to return to the bank where the budget limit is deposited before December 31, 1979.

2. Payment of loans, borrowings, advances, and temporary allocations:

a. All budget funds lent or borrowed between different levels of government must be settled by December 15, 1979. If for any reason it is impossible to repay, the borrowing entity must report specifically to the lending entity to seek resolution before the specified transfer date (point 1, part B).

b. Entities that have been granted temporary advances or allocations by the financial authority must settle by December 15, 1979.If there are valid reasons preventing repayment, they must negotiate with the financial authority to request a temporary advance or allocation for the next year to cover the outstanding debts for the current year's settlement; while ensuring consistent bookkeeping, ensuring agreement between the unit's accounting records, the financial authority's budget accounting, and the State Bank's budget fund accounting. c. Within budgetary entities, on one hand, they must carefully consider and limit temporary advances in December 1979, while on the other hand, actively settle or recover advances made both within and outside the entity. In principle, temporary advance accounts and receivable/payable accounts must balance at the end of the year. In exceptional cases, temporary advances or allocations confirmed by the financial authority as having valid reasons for non-recovery in 1979 may be recovered from the next year's (1980) budget.

Note that advances made outside the entity are illegal, and the financial authority will not recognize these amounts and will recover them into the budget during the year-end review and settlement of the entity's deposit account balances.

3. Settlement of deposit accounts at the State Bank.

3. Settlement of deposit accounts at the State Bank.

Accounts for deposits at the State Bank (related to the state budget) of all agencies, enterprises, forestry and farm fields, construction sites. (excluding working capital deposits, deposits of the Communist Party of Vietnam at various levels with separate regulations, and the annual funds allocated before the end of 1979) must be settled before the end of the year (as stipulated in the appendix of Circular No. 14/TT-LB dated November 25, 1977 on closing accounts for budget revenues and expenditures at the end of 1977) to thoroughly prevent the misuse and illegal use of budget funds and to ensure the soundness and transparency of financial accounting work of all units.

By December 24, 1979, all units must complete the procedures to remit to the state budget all amounts in deposit accounts that originate from budget funds, including unauthorized funds.

The preparation of detailed lists of balances of deposit accounts, obtaining confirmation from the bank where the account was opened, and requesting the finance authority to transfer to the 1980 budget must be completed from December 26 to December 31, 1979.

- The Ministry of Finance in Hanoi and its permanent office in Ho Chi Minh City will review and approve the transfer of deposit balances to the following year for central budget units located in these two cities.

For central budget units located in other provinces, the Ministry of Finance delegates this authority to provincial and municipal finance departments.

- Provincial and municipal finance departments will review and approve the transfer for all provincial and municipal budget units and the central units delegated above.

- County Financial Price Departments will only review and approve the transfer for county-level budget units.

4. Submission of excess funds and cancellation of remaining budget limits at the end of 1979.

Before the closing time of budget revenues and expenditures at the State Bank, all payments and recoveries belonging to 1979, as well as the cash balance in the fund at the end of 1979, must be fully returned to the budget.

During the adjustment periodfrom January 1, 1980 to March 31, 1980, if any unit still has excess funds, they must continue to submit them. The State Bank will record these amounts in the previous year's expenditure account on the books and in the 1980 budget accounting report. On April 1, 1980, the finance and State Bank authorities will conduct reconciliation, analysis, and procedures to reduce allocations or recover advances for 1979.

Excess funds submitted after March 31, 1980 will be recorded in the "Recovery of Previous Year's Expenditures" account under the 1980 budget.

Remaining budget limits at the State Bank for all levels of the 1979 budget up to the closing date will be automatically cancelled; no unit may withdraw funds for further spending and there is no need to process transfers to higher levels. It is required to reconcile figures with the State Bank and to prepare reports on the cancellation.

Special attention should be paid: For salary and allowance budgets for December 1979, local State Bank branches must make every effort to allocate sufficient funds to budget units before the closing time to ensure timely payment to cadres, workers, and staff before the end of the year. In exceptional cases where there are significant difficulties with cash, the State Bank branch should report to the Central Bank for resolution.

5. Preparation of funds for early 1980 expenses.

In December 1979, all Ministries, sectors, provincial and municipal departments, and county management boards responsible for relations with the finance and State Bank authorities at their level must prepare and allocate funds for 1980 to ensure timely approval of budget limits or issuance of payment orders for January and the first quarter of 1980, ensuring continuous activities of production, business, basic construction, or administrative affairs from the beginning of 1980 without hindrance due to the closure of the previous year's budget revenues and expenditures.

III. Time of Closing Budget Revenues and Expenditures

The of closing the accounts of the 1979 State Budget at Local State Banks (domestic banks and foreign trade banks) will uniformly take place at 4:00 PM on December 31, 1979.

IV. Tasks to be Carried Out After the State Bank Closes the Books.

1. After closing the budget revenues and expenditures, all levels of the State Bank must ensure the deadlines and contents of telegrams as specified in Circular No. 14/TT-LB dated November 25, 1977.

2. Detailed lists of balances of deposit accounts of budget units whose local banks have remitted to the budget on December 31, 1979, must be prepared by the bank and sent:

- To the County Financial Price Department regarding the remittance to the county budget.

- To the provincial or municipal bank and the remittance of the three levels of the budget.

The provincial or municipal bank will consolidate and send:

+ To the provincial or municipal finance department regarding the remittance to the provincial or municipal budget.

+ To the Central State Bank (Accounting and Budget Fund Management Department) two copies regarding the remittance to the central budget (at the latest by January 31, 1980, one copy will be kept at the Central level and one copy will be sent to the Ministry of Finance).

3. Balances of deposit accounts of construction units transferred to the provincial or municipal construction bank branches, as well as balances of deposit accounts of military, police, and armed forces units transferred to the accounts of the Ministry of Defense Financial Department or the Logistics Department of the People's Public Security Command or the Ministry of Interior Financial Department, will be summarized, monitored, and distributed by the competent authority in coordination with the local finance department for processing and reporting to the Ministry of Finance.

Article: Points to note: Construction projects are funded from two sources: budget funds allocated and credit funds from the State Bank. Therefore, the balance of the construction deposit account must be analyzed clearly for these two sources to avoid confusion in handling.

For military units participating in economic construction, the balance of the deposit account at the end of 1979, the remaining production and business capital must be returned to the Ministry of Finance, while the excess operating funds provided by the Ministry of Defense must be transferred to the account of the Financial Department of the Ministry of Defense for processing.

V. Implementation Organization.

Upon receipt of this Circular, the financial and banking agencies of the provinces and cities shall be responsible for coordinating to organize internal research - Paying particular attention to providing detailed and thorough guidance to the County Financial Price Committees and Banks and disseminating to all units within the scope of application.

The deadlines stipulated for closing accounts, disbursements, declarations, and payments of deposits ... must be promptly notified to the units in writing and posted at the local State Bank so that all transacting units are aware and can timely complete necessary procedures, avoiding situations where non-thorough dissemination leads to lax compliance with the closing account revenue and expenditure system of the state budget.

Attached:

One copy of the plan for settling accounts at the local bank during the closing of the 1977 fiscal year-end revenue and expenditure cycle "to be applied in 1979".