With the success of the 13th Negotiation Round, Vietnam is highly optimistic about the likelihood of entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) this October. Vietnam Business Forum (Vib Forum) has held a conversation with Ms Nguyen Phuong Mai, Chief Representative of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) about the changes in the Vietnam Financial market, as well as the ACCA’s plans, when Vietnam completes its accession to the WTO in October.
What do you think the state of the Financial Market of Vietnam will be when Vietnam becomes a full member of WTO this October?
According to announcement by the Ministry of Finance, after entering the WTO Vietnam will fully open its financial market, especially accounting and auditing services. This will lead to the fact that the financial market, especially accounting, auditing and insurance services as well as the stock exchange, will witness massive participation of foreign investors. To meet their requirements for financial information, the need to have transparent and reliable financial reports shall be raised. Therefore, an expansion of the auditing sector is a matter of course. The local auditing firms will have to improve their competitiveness in order to keep their market shares against foreign giants
However, at the beginning stage of “post-WTO” period, Vietnam enterprises in auditing and tax consulting will not have to face fierce competition, as we still have an advantage over foreigners in traditional practices, customs and language. The local auditing firms can be at ease with the traditional group of customers from state-owned or small and medium-sized enterprises who are still not willing to assign foreign auditing firms for their financial reports. Also, firms providing tax advisory services do not have to worry much at the outset because they have superiority over foreigners in applying tax regulations in Vietnamese context
What do you think about Human Resources of Vietnam in the Auditing Sector?
Currently, Vietnam is suffering from a severe shortage of skilled personnel in auditing. There are approximately 1000 auditors with local professional qualification. Moreover, Vietnam is faced with “brain-drain,” since auditors with international certificates move to work or live in other countries.
The core matter is still quality. Our local CPA qualification has not been widely recognized, and the number of over 200 international qualification holders among these 1000 auditors is relatively small. That cannot be enough to give foreign investors the confidence they expect.
As far as we know, among 200 international auditing certificates granted to Vietnamese auditors, most of them are ACCA’s. Can you tell us about ACCA’s plans to support its members and students to improve their professional level to meet the requirements of integration?
The requirement for not only ACCA’s Vietnamese members, but for our members around the world, is that every member, regardless of the place where he/she is working and living, has to complete 40 hours per year of continuing professional development. Students can do this through courses or workshops held by ACCA or other centres. We also have cooperation plans with local professional organizations, especially the Association of Vietnam Auditors and the Association of Accountants in HCM City, to hold regular seminars and updating courses for ACCA members and those from other local organizations.
With professional matters alone, ACCA has another tool which helps worldwide members--The Knowledge Library. This library provides member with articles, guideline books, and other documents relating to over 9000 professional items for reference. Moreover, ACCA usually organizes professional seminars or courses with the participation of ACCA experts from UK and other countries, in order to improve the professional level of our members.
As an organization with many contributions to the development process of Vietnam’s auditing sector, does ACCA have any activities to support enterprises when Vietnam completes its accession to the WTO?
According to our annual plans, ACCA will hold a conference on SME issues in a certain region. This year, the conference is expected to be held in October for Asia Pacific area. On the occasion of Hanoi APEC 2006, and with the likelihood that Vietnam will become a WTO member this October, ACCA has decided to organize the conference in Ho Chi Minh City on the 27-28 of that month. The conference will attract many small and medium- sized enterprises, as well as regional auditing firms, individual auditors, consulting firms and many investors in Asian Pacific. According to initial feedback, we can be sure that the conference will be backed and fully supported by authorities for the development of enterprises, such as: World Bank (WB); Ministry of Finance (MOF); Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI); and the Vietnam Accounting and Auditing Association (VAA). It is estimated that 400 directors, financial managers, and representatives from foreign and local auditing firms will take part in this conference.
Reported by Kim Phuong
Vietnamese
