JOINT CIRCULAR No. 33-TT/LB ON THE CLOSING OF THE FINANCIAL BOOKS AT THE END OF THE YEAR

JOINT CIRCULAR

Regarding the closure of the annual budget revenue and expenditure accounts

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The task of closing the annual budget revenue and expenditure accounts is a task that all sectors, levels, enterprises, economic organizations, administrative agencies, and public institutions must carry out to conclude a year of production and business plan implementation and budget revenue and expenditure tasks, aiming to accurately assess economic and financial activities, the implementation of various tasks, draw lessons to improve economic efficiency and work performance, enhance the quality and level of economic and financial management.

Properly closing the annual budget revenue and expenditure accounts will help units, enterprises, and agencies prepare comprehensive final settlements accurately and truthfully reflect the results of production and business operations, financial activities, and budget revenue and expenditure.

To uniformly implement the annual closure of the national budget revenue and expenditure accounts, the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank jointly stipulate the following specific points:

I- DEADLINE FOR ACCOUNT CLOSURE AND TELEGRAM REPORTING

1. The closure of the annual national budget revenue and expenditure accounts at the State Bank branches (district, county, city) shall be uniformly carried out at the end of the working day on December 31 of that year.

2. The reporting of the results of budget revenue and expenditure and reserve funds at all levels up to December 31 each year shall be implemented according to the following deadlines:

- From the district, county, city State Bank to the provincial, municipal State Bank on January 2 of the following year.

- From the provincial, municipal State Bank to the Central State Bank on January 3 of the following year.

When the State Bank at each level reports telegrams to the higher-level State Bank, they must also send the report telegram to the corresponding financial agency (pay attention to accurately calculate the reserve fund balance of the budget level under their management).

3. The content of the telegram shall be as specified in the 20-day telegram format prescribed in the accounting system for state budget reserve funds at State Bank agencies at all levels issued pursuant to Decision No. 214/NH-QĐ dated December 28, 1979, and Circular No. 148 dated July 15, 1981 of the State Bank of Vietnam, now supplemented with four additional indicators:

- Central Government Budget Revenue Type 9

- Local Government Budget Revenue Type 9

- Central Government Budget Expenditure Type 11

- Local Government Budget Expenditure Type 11

II - DEADLINE FOR TRANSFERRING FUNDS AND ISSUING "CHEQUES"

1. To ensure that budgetary units at all levels have funds available for expenditure before the State Bank closes its accounts, the latest deadline for approving limits, transferring notifications, and distributing limit allocations, and transferring funds at all levels is determined based on the time it takes for documents to circulate from the approval authority to the receiving unit, so that the limit or funds transferred can be used promptly, as follows:

a. For the Central Government Budget.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central State Bank jointly determine the latest deadline for approving limits, transferring notifications, and distributing limit allocation notices to central government budgetary units and transferring central government budget subsidies to provincial and municipal budgets as follows:

- Before the end of the working day on December 18: for central government budgetary units located in southern provinces (from Quang Nam - Da Nang southward), Binh Tri Thien, Nghe Tinh, Ha Tuyen, Son La, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Hoang Lien Son, Quang Ninh, and Lang Son.

- Before the end of the working day on December 20: for units located in other provinces (excluding Hanoi).

- Before the end of the working day on December 23: for units located in Hanoi.

Central government budgetary units at level I should base their plans for distributing limit allocations to subordinate units on the above deadlines and the actual situation in their respective sectors.

b. For Local Government Budgets

Provincial and municipal finance departments, together with provincial and municipal State Banks; District and County Financial Price Control Boards, together with State Bank branches, based on general principles, jointly determine the latest deadline for approving, distributing limit allocations, and transferring local government budget funds to subordinate budgetary units, in accordance with the specific conditions of each locality.

2. To ensure that "cheques" issued have sufficient time to return to the bank where the limit is deposited before December 31 (the date when excess limits are cancelled at the end of the year), all budgetary units at all levels must cease issuing "advance payment cheques" of the current fiscal year before 4:00 PM on December 25. The State Bank where the limit is deposited and the corresponding financial agency will not be responsible for resolving cases where cheques are issued beyond this deadline, with the cheque validity period being five working days including the advance payment date.

III- AUDIT, REVIEW, WITHDRAWAL, AND REPORTING OF BALANCES IN THE DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS OF BUDGETARY UNITS AT YEAR-END

BALANCE OF DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS OF BUDGETARY UNITS AT YEAR-END

1. All budgetary units must arrange to reconcile their deposit account balances with the State Bank where they conduct transactions, complete procedures to transfer all surplus budget funds (excess funds) or unreported budget revenues (operational income, other income...) to the budget before December 25. If the remaining balance in the deposit account needs to be carried over to the next year for use (temporary retained funds) and does not belong to the budget funds or pre-allocated funds for the next year..., a detailed list must be prepared, confirmed by the State Bank where the account is held, then submitted to the financial agency for agreement to carry over to the next year. This process is conducted from December 26 to December 30 each year.

2. The review and transfer of deposit account balances of budgetary units are regulated as follows:

- The Ministry of Finance (National Budget Department in Hanoi) approves for budgetary units in Hanoi. The National Budget Management Department of the Ministry of Finance stationed in Ho Chi Minh City approves for budgetary units in Ho Chi Minh City.

- Provincial and municipal finance departments approve for budgetary units under provincial and municipal budgets and are authorized by the Ministry of Finance to approve for central government budgetary units located in their province.

- The county financial price authority shall approve for budgetary units at the county level, and those authorized by the Ministry of Finance and provincial financial departments shall approve for central and provincial budgetary units located within their respective counties.

- Military and public security units wishing to transfer funds not required to be remitted to the State Budget for the following year must submit a request in writing to the State Bank where they conduct transactions.

3/ By the end of December 31, the State Bank branch will only allow transfers to the following year for amounts that have been reviewed and approved by the financial authorities. The remaining amount will be fully remitted into each level of the State Budget. Additionally, the State Bank branch needs to carefully check if there are other deposits from the State Budget sources that were overlooked during the review and declaration process, and these should also be fully remitted into each level of the State Budget. For military and public security unit funds that did not follow the procedure stipulated in point (2) above, the State Bank branch will transfer all such funds back to the accounts of the Financial Department of the Ministry of Defense and the Financial Department of the Ministry of Interior.

As for the Party funds of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the pre-allocated funds for the next year for budgetary units transferred to the following year for expenditure, the State Bank branch will not remit them into the State Budget on December 31.

It is imperative to avoid situations where, after the books are closed, budgetary units request refunds or adjustments, or due to the units' own negligence in completing the necessary procedures and deadlines before the books are closed, or the State Bank branch allows units to transfer funds to the following year without approval from the financial authorities, or remits funds into the State Budget that were approved to be transferred to the following year.

4/ After remitting the balance of the deposit accounts of budgetary units into each level of the State Budget, the State Bank branch must prepare a detailed list of the amounts remitted for each unit, belonging to each level of the State Budget, and send it before January 5 of the following year to:

- The county financial price authority regarding the balances of deposits remitted into the county State Budget.

- The provincial State Bank regarding the balances of deposits remitted into the provincial State Budget and the Central State Budget.

The provincial State Bank will consolidate the lists from the local branches and send them before January 10 of the following year to:

- The provincial financial department regarding the balances of deposits of budgetary units remitted into the provincial State Budget.

- The Central State Bank (two copies) regarding the balances of deposits of budgetary units remitted into the Central State Budget, with one copy retained by the Central Bank and the other included in the consolidated report sent to the Ministry of Finance before January 31 of the following year.

IV- PREPARATION OF FUNDS FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT YEAR:

To prepare funds for the beginning of the next year, starting from the beginning of December of the previous year, all Ministries, sectors, and supervisory departments responsible for planning the first quarter's income and expenditure of the next year must work with the financial authorities and the State Bank at the same level to promptly inform about the distribution limits or transfer funds through payment orders according to the guidance provided in Article 4 above, so that subordinate units can have funds available for expenditure right from the start of the next year.

V- GENERAL PROVISIONS

Budgetary units, financial authorities, and State Banks at all levels, as well as investment and construction banks, need to plan thoroughly to ensure that the book closing process is quick and efficient, avoiding delays that could hinder the timely completion of annual settlement reports as stipulated in Article 25 of the Government Accounting System issued by the Ministry of Finance under Document No. 203 TC/QLNS dated September 30, 1978.

- By the end of January for the county-level State Budget

- By the end of February for the provincial-level State Budget

- By the end of March for the Central-level State Budget

2/ To ensure the accuracy of reported data, the two sectors of Finance and the State Bank must strictly carry out the verification of data and sign confirmation on the reports of each sector before submitting them to higher authorities and related agencies as stipulated in Article 49 of the Government Accounting System issued by the Ministry of Finance under Document No. 203 TC/QLNS dated September 30, 1978.

3/ If the deadlines specified above coincide with Sundays or annual holidays when financial and banking agencies cannot operate, they may be advanced by one day (i.e., before the holiday).

4/ These provisions apply to the closure of the State Budget revenue and expenditure records for the end of 1982 and subsequent years.

In cases requiring amendments to any clauses, the Joint Departments will issue supplementary guidance documents.

Requesting the directors of provincial financial departments and the directors of provincial State Banks to disseminate these regulations to financial and banking agencies at the district, county, and city levels, as well as to budgetary units at all levels, to ensure a thorough understanding and organization of the annual closure of State Budget revenue and expenditure records, and to provide feedback on necessary supplements and amendments to achieve better results in this work.