Decision No. 32/2006/QĐ-NHNN on Accounting on Computers for the State Bank of Vietnam and credit organizations

DECISION

Issuing Regulations on Accounting on Computers

for the State Bank of Vietnam and credit organizations

______________________

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam 1997 and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam 2003;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions 1997 and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Credit Institutions 2004;

Pursuant to the Accounting Law 2003;

Pursuant to the Law on Electronic Transactions 2005;

Pursuant to Decree No. 128/2004/NĐ-CP dated May 31, 2004 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Accounting Law applicable in state accounting;

Pursuant to Decree No. 129/2004/NĐ-CP dated May 31, 2004 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Accounting Law applicable in business operations;

Pursuant to Decree No. 52/2003/NĐ-CP dated May 19, 2003 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

Pursuant to Circular No. 8178/BTC-CĐKT dated July 3, 2006 of the Ministry of Finance regarding "Approval for Issuing Regulations on Accounting on Computers for the State Bank of Vietnam and credit organizations";

Based on the proposal of the Director of the Accounting and Finance Department.

DECISION:

Article 1. Attached herewith are the Regulations on Accounting on Computers for the State Bank of Vietnam and credit organizations.

Article 2. The Standard Measurement Quality Control Department shall be responsible for organizing and guiding the implementation of the Regulations adopted herein.

Article 3. The Heads of the Office, the Director of the Accounting and Finance Department, the Heads of relevant units under the State Bank of Vietnam, the Governors of the State Bank of Vietnam Branches in provinces and centrally-administered cities, the General Directors (Directors) of credit organizations shall be responsible for implementing this Decision./.

REGULATIONS

ON ACCOUNTING ON COMPUTERS FOR THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM AND CREDIT ORGANIZATIONS
(Issued together with Decision No. 32/2006/QĐ-NHNN dated July 19, 2006 of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam)

Chapter 1:

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

These regulations govern the use of accounting software on computer systems for the State Bank of Vietnam and credit organizations (hereinafter referred to as Banks) that meet the conditions specified in Article 4 of these regulations.

Article 2. Interpretation of Terms

In these regulations, the following terms have the meanings set forth below:

1. Accounting on computers: Is the process whereby Banks use accounting software to perform accounting on computer systems.

2. Accounting information system: Is a system established to send, receive, store, display, or perform other processing of data in accordance with accounting laws.

3. Automatically posted transaction: Is a transaction automatically posted by accounting software without external intervention. Such transactions are posted based on information generated by the accounting information system from existing data within the system (accrued interest calculation...) or based on electronic customer transactions (ATM transactions...).

4. Business sub-system: Are accounting sections divided according to the business activities of the Banks. These accounting sections are responsible for entering, controlling economic and financial data; determining debit and credit accounts into the accounting information system for transactions of business activities they oversee.

5. Ledger account: Is the lowest level of consolidated account (at least equivalent in content to the third-level consolidated account of the Accounting Chart issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam) prescribed in the accounting chart applied at the Bank.

6. End of working day time point: Is the time point marking the end of a work cycle on the accounting information system, where all closing entries for the day have been completed. After this time point, no further economic and financial transactions are processed or posted to the day's accounting books except for correction transactions as provided for.

7. Head of the Bank: Is the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the General Director (Director) of credit institutions.

8. Head of the basic bank unit (head of the bank unit): Is the head of units under the State Bank of Vietnam, credit institutions that have accounting organizational structures and conduct accounting on computers (Branches, Trading Departments...).

Article 3. Principles for Implementing Computerized Accounting

1. Computerized accounting at banks must comply with the provisions of the Accounting Law and other relevant laws.

2. Accounting vouchers used in computerized accounting may be paper-based or electronic. The establishment, control, and storage of accounting vouchers shall be carried out in accordance with current regulations on accounting vouchers.

3. Summary accounting entries can only be made based on detailed accounting data. Banks must ensure that they provide complete and clear data from summary accounting to prepare financial reports and detailed accounting data for specific accounting objects.

4. Banks must ensure the principle of debiting before crediting or simultaneous debiting and crediting for economic and financial transactions occurring within the unit. Credit entries can only be made when debit entries are certain to be made.

5. Computerized accounting must be conducted according to a strictly controlled process established by the head of the bank.

6. Individuals authorized to access and use accounting software must be authenticated and granted permissions in accordance with regulations to access the accounting software and perform their functions. Authorized individuals may only carry out tasks within their permissions and are responsible for the tasks performed. Unauthorized access and use of accounting software are strictly prohibited.

7. Data officially updated into the accounting information system can only be adjusted or modified by authorized persons and must follow operational procedures. Unauthorized access and modification of data are strictly prohibited.

Article 4. Conditions for Implementing Computerized Accounting

1. Sufficient material, technical conditions, and staff, accounting software meeting the standards and conditions stipulated in Circular No. 103/2005/TT-BTC dated November 24, 2005, issued by the Ministry of Finance guiding the standards and conditions for accounting software, ensuring comprehensive reflection of all economic transactions as prescribed, ensuring the ability to verify and reconcile accounting voucher data with ledger data, reconcile data between ledgers, and aggregate data to prepare financial statements as required.

2. A networked computer system for updating, processing, controlling, exploiting, and securely storing data accurately, quickly, and conveniently. The computer system must have a common database and a backup information system as prescribed.

3. Technical and operational procedures for computerized accounting. The technical and operational procedures for computerized accounting must include the following main contents:

a) Clearly defining the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of each staff member related to computerized accounting.

b) An appropriate voucher circulation process compatible with the accounting software, management requirements for each type of transaction, while ensuring the accuracy of summary and detailed accounting entries.

c) Procedures for checking, controlling, approving, and reconciling computerized accounting, including necessary control procedures to promptly detect any possible errors during computerized accounting.

d) Issuance, management, and authentication in accordance with the Information System Security Regulations in the banking sector issued by Decision No. 04/2006/QĐ-NHNN dated January 18, 2006, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

đ) Organizing the storage of accounting data on the computer system and organizing the security of accounting data.

4. For People's Credit Funds implementing computerized accounting under this Regulation, they must also comply with the safety and security requirements for information technology systems, issuance, and management of authentication for authorized users of accounting software as stipulated in Decision No. 04/2006/QĐ-NHNN dated January 18, 2006, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Chapter 2:

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 5. Accounting organizational structure

The accounting organizational structure at banks includes the following business subsystems:

1. Deposit subsystem.

2. Loan subsystem.

3. Transfer subsystem.

4. Trade finance subsystem.

5. Financial trading subsystem.

6. Internal management subsystem.

7. Subsystem for transactions processed automatically.

Depending on the organizational model, management, and operational characteristics of each bank, the head of the bank decides whether to combine or separate the above business subsystems.

Article 6. Responsibilities of participants in computerized accounting

1. For the head of the bank:

a) Issuing technical-accounting procedures for computerized accounting in accordance with the provisions of Clause 3, Article 4 of this Regulation.

b) Being responsible for the standards of accounting software applied at the bank; for the material and technical conditions and staff when conducting computerized accounting.

2. For the head of banking units:

a) Granting permissions to staff responsible for performing tasks related to computerized accounting at their own units.

b) Guiding and strictly implementing this Regulation at their units.

3. For accountants:

a) Controlling the accuracy, legality, and validity of accounting vouchers.

b) Accurately entering all data from economic and financial transactions into the accounting information system according to the elements on the vouchers and the computerized accounting procedures.

c) Recording economic and financial transactions in accordance with current regulations.

d) Checking and reconciling to ensure the accuracy of transaction details on the Transaction Listing with the accounting vouchers entered into the accounting information system on the same day.

4. For accounting supervisors (supervisors) and approvers:

a) Supervising and approving the legality and validity of accounting vouchers and business documents processed and entered into the accounting information system by accountants and business staff.

b) Supervising and approving the accuracy of economic and financial data entered into the accounting information system by accountants and business staff, ensuring they match the accounting vouchers and supporting documents related to economic and financial transactions.

c) Approvers and supervisors are not allowed to enter data into the accounting information system; if errors are found, they must return the vouchers and documents to the accountants and business staff for re-entry. Approvers only perform supervision and approval after the supervisor has completed their supervision and approval.

d) Supervisors are responsible for checking and reconciling to ensure the accuracy of transaction details on the Transaction Listing with the accounting vouchers of transactions they supervise on the same day.

5. For audit staff:

a) Collecting and checking to ensure the completeness of the number of vouchers for economic and financial transactions recorded on the same day.

b) Rechecking the legality and validity of accounting vouchers, rechecking the accuracy of journal entries made by accountants and business departments on the same day.

c) Rechecking the legality and accuracy of the contents of automatically recorded Transaction Listings, promptly identifying and reporting any errors caused by system processing to the competent authority.

d) Supervising and reconciling figures between Transaction Listings and consolidated Transaction Listings, between consolidated Transaction Listings and detailed accounting ledgers, between general ledger accounts and the accounting balance sheet; promptly identifying and reporting any discrepancies to the competent authority.

e) Audit staff are not permitted to participate in the process of entering, supervising, and approving data for economic and financial transactions that they themselves have checked.

6. For business staff:

a) Being responsible for checking and controlling the accuracy, legality, and validity of documents used to enter data related to system processing.

b) Entering data into the accounting information system accurately based on the content of the documents used.

7. For heads of accounting departments:

a) Organizing the implementation of computerized accounting procedures at the unit, directly monitoring compliance with the procedures.

b) Checking and controlling the daily accounting balance sheet and monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reports.

c) Being responsible for the completeness, timeliness, and truthfulness of accounting and financial reports.

Article 7. Control and Input of Data into Accounting Information System

1. Methods for Inputting Data into the Accounting Information System:

a) By accountants entering from paper vouchers.

b) By accountants processing (entering) in electronic form from electronic vouchers.

c) By business staff converting (entering) from vouchers.

d) By authorized business staff entering for the accounting information system to process.

đ) Data is automatically entered into the accounting information system (for transactions that are automatically recorded).

e) Other methods as prescribed by the Head of the Bank.

2. Control of data input into the accounting information system:

a) All data entered into the accounting information system must be controlled by accountants and business staff before entry and re-controlled by supervisors and approvers (if approval is required) in accordance with the responsibilities stipulated in Article 6 of this Regulation.

b) For banks applying the single-window transaction model as prescribed in Decision No. 1498/2005/QĐ-NHNN dated October 13, 2005 of the Governor of the State Bank, for transactions within the limit, transaction officers simultaneously perform the functions of accountants and supervisors.

c) For transactions that are automatically recorded, the accounting software must have automatic control functions to ensure that the data entered into the accounting information system or the data calculated and generated by the accounting software are accurate and valid.

3. The recording of economic and financial transactions shall only be considered complete and the accounting software must ensure that the data is officially updated into the system when accountants, business staff, supervisors, and approvers (for transactions requiring approval) have controlled and signed their electronic signatures.

Accountants, business staff, supervisors, and approvers are responsible for the data entered into the accounting information system and have been controlled and approved according to the authority prescribed.

Article 8. Types of Ledgers, Books, and Accounting Reports Used in Computerized Accounting

1. Detailed Accounting Ledger: A detailed ledger tracks specific accounting objects such as individual customers, types of capital, assets, income, expenses... The establishment of detailed accounting ledgers for accounting objects must be based on the regulations on opening detailed accounting accounts in the Accounting Chart applicable to Banks. The detailed accounting ledger must include the following main elements:

a) Name of the bank establishing the ledger

b) Name of the ledger

c) Detailed account number

d) Ledger number

đ) Opening balance

e) Recording date, value date of the transaction

g) Voucher number, date, month, year of the voucher

h) Explanation or Transaction Code

i) Debit amount, Credit amount

k) Corresponding account

l) Daily Debit Turnover; Daily Credit Turnover

m) Monthly Debit Turnover; Monthly Credit Turnover

n) Annual Debit Turnover; Annual Credit Turnover

o) Closing balance

p) Signature of the supervisor.

2. Voucher Journal

The voucher journal is established daily and includes:

a) Accounting vouchers generated and completed on the day.

b) Lists of transactions.

c) Summary tables of lists of transactions.

Depending on management requirements and accounting software design, banks may combine lists of transactions and summary tables of lists of transactions but must ensure full representation of the factors specified in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article.

3. List of Transactions: Lists transactions processed, updated into the accounting information system and recorded on the same day in chronological order and by each accountant or lists transactions recorded automatically.

There are two types of list of transactions: List of transactions performed by accountants and List of transactions recorded automatically.

The list of transactions must include the following main elements:

a) Accountant code or list of transaction number.

b) Date, month, year of the list creation.

c) Voucher number

d) Transaction code

đ) Account relationship and amount of economic and financial transactions:

- Debit accounts and debit amounts of each account.

- Credit accounts and credit amounts of each account.

e) Total debit turnover, total credit turnover of the list.

g) Supervisor's signature.

The list of transactions and corresponding accounting vouchers must be compiled together for storage in the voucher journal.

4. Summary Table of Lists of Transactions: Summarizes data from lists of transactions.

There are two types of summary table of lists of transactions: Summary table of lists of transactions by business function subsystems or by general ledger accounts and Summary table of lists of transactions of all accountants and automatically recorded transactions throughout the banking unit.

The summary table of lists of transactions must include the following main elements:

a) Date, month, year of the table creation.

b) Accountant code or business function subsystem code related to the reported (corresponding) business function subsystem or list of transaction number.

c) Number of transactions and total amount of each accountant or each related business function subsystem or debit occurrence, credit occurrence of each list of transactions.

d) Total debit turnover, total credit turnover of the summary table of lists of transactions.

đ) Supervisor's signature.

5. General Ledger Account Ledger: Established for each general ledger account and must include the following main elements:

a) Name of the bank establishing the ledger

b) Date, month, year of the ledger entry

c) Name and number of each general ledger account;

d) Opening balance of each general ledger account;

đ) Detailed account number, opening balance, total debit turnover, total credit turnover, closing balance of each detailed account belonging to the general ledger account that has activities on the day and arranged in ascending order of detailed account number. In cases where the data of detailed accounting accounts has already been reflected in other accounting ledgers and printed daily for checking and storage, it does not need to be reflected in the general ledger account ledger and is replaced by the daily debit occurrence, daily credit occurrence of the general ledger account;

e) Closing balance of the general ledger account;

g) Supervisor's signature.

6. Daily Accounting Account Balance Sheet: Reflects the opening balance, debit turnover, credit turnover, and closing balance of each general ledger account.

7. In addition to the transaction lists, accounting books, and financial reports prescribed in this Regulation, banks are permitted to open additional accounting books that meet their management requirements and comply with the provisions of the law.

8. For monthly, quarterly, and annual account balance sheets, financial reports, banks must implement in accordance with current regulations on financial reporting.

Article 9. Provisions on printing transaction lists, books, and financial reports

1. Detailed accounting books:

a) For detailed accounts related to customers:

- For detailed accounting books of each customer (demand deposits, loans, term deposits...): the printing and provision of detailed accounting books to customers, confirmation and reconciliation of account balances with customers shall be carried out according to the agreement between the customer and the bank. At least once a year, the bank must conduct a written reconciliation of account balances with customers, if there are discrepancies, the cause must be identified and resolved promptly. The content and form of reconciliation are decided by the head of the bank.

Printing detailed accounting books for customer accounts that have activities during the accounting period for storage at the bank is decided by the head of the bank based on the data storage capacity of the unit using electronic means. In cases where it is not printed on paper for storage, the bank must ensure the integrity of the detailed accounting book data for customer accounts and securely store them electronically in accordance with the retention period for accounting records in the banking sector and ensure they can be accessed, queried, or printed when necessary. At least at the end of the year, banks must print on paper to control and store information of accounts with balances at the end of the year, including: beginning balance, total debit entries, total credit entries, ending balance, by each customer account.

- For savings deposit accounts and securities: Banks may reconcile account balances with customers according to agreements with customers. At the end of the year, banks must print statements showing the closing balance and total transactions for the year for all savings deposits and securities of customers for verification and storage.

1.2. For internal detailed accounts of the bank: Accountants must print detailed accounting books daily, reconcile them accurately with accounting vouchers for economic and financial transactions recorded in the books, and store them in accordance with current regulations.

2. For transaction lists: At the end of the working day, accountants must print transaction lists they have performed, and back-office staff of the business system must print lists of automatically posted transactions and conduct checks and reconciliations in accordance with Article 10 of this Regulation.

3. For consolidated transaction lists:

a) Back-office staff of the business system are responsible for printing consolidated transaction lists within their system.

b) Back-office staff of the unit are responsible for printing consolidated transaction lists for the entire banking unit.

4. For general ledger accounting books, account balance sheets, and financial reports:

a) Daily, banking units must print general ledger accounting books and daily account balance sheets.

b) Periodically, banking units must print consolidated account balance sheets at level three and financial reports in accordance with the Governor's regulations of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Article 10. Daily Verification and Reconciliation

1. After printing all Transaction Lists, Summary Transaction Lists, Detailed Accounting Books, Ledger Accounts, and Daily Accounting Balance Sheets, the bank must verify and reconcile data to ensure that the system updates all transactions occurring on that day fully and accurately, ensuring consistency between accounting vouchers and Transaction Lists, between accounting books and accounting reports, and between detailed and consolidated accounting.

Depending on the accounting software applied by the Bank, the Bank must establish verification, control, and reconciliation procedures, detailing the content, basis, and methods of reconciliation to ensure that accountants can verify and reconcile data between accounting vouchers and Transaction Lists; between Summary Transaction Lists and accounting books, and between accounting books and accounting reports.

2. In cases where the accounting information system includes intermediary accounts (for monitoring cash transfers between transaction officers...), the post-audit department must verify and reconcile these accounts to ensure that their balances are zero at the end of the working day. If there are remaining balances, detailed statements must be printed and the reasons identified for control and management.

3. For banks applying centralized accounting models at headquarters, units must organize verification and reconciliation to ensure that figures for the same indicators on branch-printed accounting reports match those from system-wide reports printed from the main server.

4. During the accounting, verification, and reconciliation process, if errors are discovered, they must be corrected according to the Accounting Law, enterprise accounting regulations, and other current legal provisions.

5. After verifying and reconciling data within their duties and functions, accountants, auditors, post-audit staff, and heads of accounting departments must sign and take responsibility for verified and reconciled Transaction Lists, Summary Transaction Lists, Detailed Accounting Books, Ledger Accounts, and Daily Accounting Balance Sheets.

Article 11. Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual Verification and Reconciliation

At the end of each month, quarter, and year, after printing monthly, quarterly, and annual balance sheets and financial reports as prescribed, banks must verify and reconcile data to ensure: monthly, quarterly, and annual consolidated accounting figures match detailed accounting figures; monthly-end accounting figures match daily accounting figures within the month; quarterly-end accounting figures match monthly accounting figures within the quarter; yearly-end accounting figures match twelve-month accounting figures within the year; and financial report figures match accounting book figures.

Chapter 3:

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 12. Heads of accounting units under the State Bank, General Directors (Directors) of credit organizations within their functions and authorities are responsible for organizing, guiding, and implementing this Regulation.

Article 13. The Director of the Accounting and Finance Department, the Director of the Banking Information Technology Department, the Director of the General Audit Department, and the Chief Inspector of the State Bank within their functions and responsibilities are responsible for guiding, inspecting, and supervising the implementation of this Regulation.