DECISION

PROMULGATING REGULATIONS ON LIST OF AUDIT DOSSIERS; AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION FOR ARCHIVING, PRESERVATION, USE AND DISPOSAL OF AUDIT DOSSIERS

Pursuant to the Law on State Audit dated 24/6/2015 and Law on Amendments to Law on State Audit dated 26/11/2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents dated 22/6/2015 and Law on Amendments to the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents dated 18/6/2020;

At the request of Director General of Department of Audit Policy and Quality Control and Director General of Department of Legal Affairs;

State Auditor General hereby promulgates a Decision promulgating regulations on list of audit dossiers; and requirements for submission for archiving, preservation, use and disposal of audit dossiers.

Article 1. Promulgated together with this Decision are regulations on list of audit dossiers; and requirements for submission for archiving, preservation, use and disposal of audit dossiers.

Article 2. This Decision takes effect 45 days after the date on which it is signed and supersedes Decision No. 10/2016/QD-KTNN dated 28/12/2016 by State Auditor General promulgating regulations on list of audit dossiers; and requirements for submission for archiving, preservation, use and disposal of audit dossiers.

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STATE AUDITOR GENERAL




Ho Duc Phoc

REGULATIONS

LIST OF AUDIT DOSSIERS; AND REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION FOR ARCHIVING, PRESERVATION, USE AND DISPOSAL OF AUDIT DOSSIERS

(Promulgated together with Decision No. 04/2020/QD-KTNN dated December 14, 2020 by State Auditor General)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

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These regulations provide for list of audit dossiers; and requirements for submission for archiving, preservation, use and disposal of audit dossiers of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. These regulations are applicable to affiliates of State Audit Office of Vietnam assigned to perform audits and state auditor teams (hereinafter referred to as “auditor teams”), state auditors, organizations and individuals entrusted or hired to perform audits, state audit collaborators, audited entities and other regulatory bodies, organizations and individuals involved in audit operations.

2. Regulations applicable to state auditors also apply to members of auditor teams who are not state auditors.

Chapter II

LIST OF AUDIT DOSSIERS

Article 3. List of audit dossiers

List of audit dossiers of an audit includes a general audit dossier of the auditor team, detailed audit dossiers of auditor groups, dossier on inspection of adoption of audit conclusions and recommendations, dossier on handling of audit complaints and dossier on audit quality control of chief auditor of specialized state audit unit or regional state audit unit and director generals of advisory departments assigned to take charge of the audit (hereinafter referred to as “chief auditors”).

Article 4. General audit dossiers of auditor teams

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1. Documents collected during survey and formulation of the general audit plan, including:

a) Decision on establishment of survey team to collect information for formulation of general audit plan (if any);

b) Survey outline and official dispatch sent to surveyed entity;

c) Financial statements, final accounts of budget, final accounts of investment capital, other reports;

d) Reports, instructional documents, guiding documents, etc. concerning task performance of audited entity (if any);

dd) Other documents related to survey and information collection for formulation of general audit plan (if any).

2. Draft general audit plan and draft general audit plan assessing and approving documents, including:

2.1. Approval from chief auditor

a) Draft general audit plan proposed to chief auditor by auditor team for approval;

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c) Decision on establishment of a council for assessment of and approval for draft general audit plan of the auditing unit; minutes of the meeting on approving general audit plan of chief auditor;

d) Documents on opinion receipt and explanation of auditor team (report on opinion receipt and explanation for contents in reports on assessment of draft general audit plan of the assessment team, reports on audit quality control of the control team, conclusions of the council for assessment of and approval for draft general audit plan, etc.);

dd) Other documents related to general audit plan approval of chief auditor (if any).

2.2. Approval from State Auditor General

a) Proposal and draft general audit plan submitted to leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam for approval;

b) Assessment reports of units in charge of draft general audit plan control and assessment;

c) Documents on opinion receipt and explanation of the auditing unit;

d) Announcement of conclusion of leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam in the meeting on approving draft general audit plan;

dd) Documents exchanged between the auditing unit and Department of General Affairs during promulgation of general audit plan and audit decision of the audit.

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3. General audit plan; general audit plan amendments and proposals and relevant supplementary documents (if any).

4. Official dispatch of Department of Audit Policy and Quality Control confirming that the auditor team has completed the general audit plan, which serves as the basis for promulgation of the audit decision.

5. Audit decision; audit decision amendments and proposals (if any).

6. Audited reports, including financial statements, final accounts of budget, final accounts of investment capital, other reports (if there is any change compared to Point c Clause 1 of this Article).

7. Proposal for instructions on audit operations of the auditor team (if any).

8. Instructional documents during the audit, including documents instructing audit operations of the auditor team (if any); guiding documents for specialized audit (if any); minutes of meeting on inspecting and instructing audit operations of the auditor team by the auditing unit leader and leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam (if any); documents on instructions from auditor team leader for the auditor team (if any) and other relevant documents.

9. Periodic and ad hoc reports submitted by the auditor team to the chief auditor and leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

10. Work journals of the auditor team leader and deputy leaders (if any).

11. Auditor team meeting minutes.

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12.1. Approval from chief auditor

a) Draft audit reports submitted to the chief auditor;

b) Audit quality control report of the audit quality control team of the auditing unit (up to the stage of draft audit report approval);

c) Decision on establishment of a team for assessment of draft audit reports; reports on assessment of draft audit reports of the assessment team;

d) Decision on establishment of a council for assessment of and approval for draft audit reports of the auditing unit; minutes of meeting on approving draft audit report of the chief auditor;

dd) Documents on opinion receipt and explanation of auditor team (report on opinion receipt and explanation for contents in reports on assessment of draft audit reports of the assessment team, reports on audit quality control of the control team, conclusions of the council for assessment of and approval for draft audit reports, etc.);

e) Written explanations of the audited entity and other relevant units (if any).

g) Other documents related to audit report approval of chief auditor (if any).

12.2. Approval from State Auditor General

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b) Assessment reports of units in charge of draft audit report assessment;

c) Audit quality control report of Department of Audit Policy and Quality Control;

d) Documents on opinion receipt and explanation of the auditing unit;

dd) Announcement of conclusion of leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam in the meeting on approving draft audit report;

e) Other documents related to draft audit report approval of leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam (if any).

13. Official dispatch sending draft audit report sent to the audited entity together with draft audit report for opinions.

14. Written opinions on the draft audit report of the audited entity (if any).

15. Explanations of the audited entity and relevant regulatory bodies, organizations and individuals (if any).

16. Document on opinion receipt and explanation for opinions of the audited entity of the auditor team, which are added to the draft audit report;

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18. Proposal for audit report publication submitted to leader of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

19. Reports on audit report assessment proposed for publication of advisory departments (if any).

20. Official dispatch publishing the audit report together with the audit report.

21. Audit result announcement of the auditor team; announcement of audit conclusions and recommendations sent to relevant parties (units, ministries, etc.).

22. Report on recorded opinions of auditor team members (if any).

23. Records and reports on audit quality inspection and control (besides the documents mentioned in section 12.2.c. of Article 4) of inspection and control teams and other documents related to the audit (if any).

24. Documents sent to relevant regulatory bodies and replies of relevant regulatory bodies on policies and issues related to the audit (if any).

25. Official dispatches sent to State Treasury on implementation of audit recommendations.

26. Complaints and denunciations and replies to complaints and denunciations during the audit (if any).

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28. Documents exchanged between the auditing unit and Department of General Affairs during formulation of the draft audit report proposed for publication (if any).

29. Other documents related to the audit dossier of the auditor team (if any).

Article 5. Detailed audit dossiers of auditor groups

A detailed audit dossier of an auditor group includes:

1. Audited reports and reports inspected and compared with a third party, including financial statements, final accounts of budget, final accounts of investment capital and other reports related to data and information in the audit record (suitable for audited area).

2. Detailed audit plan and proposals for amendment to detailed audit plan and amended audit plans (if any).

3. Proposals for inspection and comparison with a third party; official dispatches sending plan for inspection and comparison with third party; official dispatches on cooperation in inspection and comparison (if any); plan for inspection and comparison with third party; plan for on-site inspection (if any).

4. Written requests for information and documents necessary for the audit and inspection and comparison with third party from the audited entity and relevant units (if any).

5. Audit journals:

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- When State Audit Office of Vietnam employs digital signatures and digitalizes documents, the auditor group leader and state auditors shall sign digital signatures and are not required to print their journals; audit journals shall be stored on software (Centre for Information Technology shall store data on audit journals electronically).

6. Proposal for instructions on audit operations of the auditor group (if any).

7. Instructional documents during the audit, including documents instructing audit operations of the auditor group (if any); minutes of meeting on inspecting and instructing audit operations of the auditor group by leaders of the auditor team and auditing unit (if any); and other relevant documents.

8. Periodic and ad hoc reports submitted by the auditor group to the auditor team leader and chief auditor.

9. Audit evidence related to data and information presented in the audit report, audit record and audit result announcement; audit findings, errors, conclusions and recommendations (audit information, documents and records and other information related to audit, inspection and comparison contents collected by state auditors; calculating, analytical, investigational and interviewing documents, video recordings, pictures, voice recordings, etc. collected or created by state auditors to provide the basis for assessments, confirmation, conclusions and recommendations concerning audited, inspected and compared contents; expert opinions, records of on-site, storage, fund examination, etc.) (see Appendix 01 enclosed therewith).

10. Audit situation and data confirmation record.

11. Inspection records; records of inspection and comparison with third party; work records; on-site examination records (if any).

12. Minutes of meetings of the auditor group.

13. Draft audit record proposed to the auditor team leader by the auditor group for approval.

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15. Written opinions on the draft audit record of the audited entity (if any).

16. Explanations of the audited entity and relevant regulatory bodies, organizations and individuals (if any).

17. Minutes of the meeting approving the draft audit record of the auditor group (if any).

18. Document on opinion receipt and explanation for opinions of the audited entity of the auditor group, which are added to the draft audit record (if any).

19. Audit record of the auditor group.

20. Proposal for publication of announcement of results of audit at the audited entity.

21. Audit result announcement; announcement of audit conclusions and recommendations sent to relevant parties (if any).

22. Records of audit quality inspection and control of inspection and control teams and other relevant documents of the auditor group (if any).

23. Report on recorded opinions of members of the auditor group and the auditor group (if any).

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Article 6. Dossiers on inspection of adoption of audit conclusions and recommendations

A dossier on inspection of adoption of audit conclusions and recommendations comprises:

1. Report on adoption of audit recommendations from State Audit Office of Vietnam by the audited entity.

2. Written propositions and complaints concerning audit results of the audited entity or relevant organizations and individuals and written replies from State Audit Office of Vietnam and relevant documents (if any).

3. Plan for inspection of adoption of audit recommendations.

4. Documents on inspection plan assessment (if any).

5. Decision on inspection of adoption of audit recommendations.

6. Inspection plan announcement sent to the audited entity together with guidelines on preparation of reports to be submitted to the inspection team.

7. Documents and evidences collected during the inspection (see Appendix 02 enclosed therewith).

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9. Record of inspection of audit recommendation adoption.

10. Minutes of meetings of the inspection team (if any).

11. Written explanations of the audited entity (if any).

12. Official dispatch sending report on inspection of audit recommendation adoption and report on inspection of audit recommendation adoption.

13. Decision on establishment of a team for assessment of the inspection report of head of the inspection team; report on assessment of inspection report.

14. Documents providing instructions on operations of the inspection team (if any).

15. Documents of State Audit Office of Vietnam sent to the audited entity and relevant organizations and individuals concerning audit recommendation adoption (if any).

16. Minutes of meetings of auditor groups, auditor team, auditing unit, etc. and reports on result handling, inspection recommendation adoption and audit quality control (if any).

17. Additional audit documents provided after the audit report is published (amendment to archived audit documents or addition to completed audit dossiers for any reason must be approved by the competent authority and recorded into audit dossiers).

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Article 7. Dossiers on handling of audit complaints

Complaint handling must be recorded in writing. A dossier on handling of audit complaints consists of:

1. Written audit complaint of the audited entity;

2. Documents and evidences provided by all parties;

3. Written notification of complaint receipt or rejection sent to the audited entity (if any);

4. Decision on suspension of adoption of a part or the whole of audit conclusions and recommendations (if any);

5. Records of inspection, verification, conclusions and assessment results (if any);

6. Dialogue record (if any);

7. Proposal of the auditing unit for plan for replying to the proposition of the audited entity together with draft replying official dispatch in case a second reply is required or there is change to audit recommendations;

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9. Advice of the audit council (if any);

10. Complaint handling decision;

11. Official dispatch replying to the audited entity (the official dispatch shall be sent by the auditing unit in case it is the first reply and the audit recommendations are upheld; the official dispatch shall be sent by State Audit Office of Vietnam if a second reply is required or there is change to audit recommendations);

12. Amended conclusions/ recommendations announcement, audit result announcement, audit report (if any);

13. Other relevant documents (if any).

Article 8. Dossiers on audit quality control of chief auditors

A dossier on audit quality control of the chief auditor for an audit includes:

1. Documents on organization of audit quality control such as:

a) Audit quality control plan of the auditing unit;

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c) Audit quality control plans and amending documents, etc.

2. Relevant documents providing the basis for control (excluding documents mentioned in Article 4 and Article 5).

3. Evidences for audit quality control (including documentary evidences for findings, excluding documents mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article).

4. Working documents (excluding documents mentioned in Clause 2.1 and Clause 12.1 Article 4 archived); work records, documents providing instructions on control operations, etc.;

5. Additional audit quality control reports of audit quality control teams of the auditing unit for the stage of audit report formulation and sending;

6. Other documents related to documents on audit quality control of the chief auditor.

Chapter III

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMISSION FOR ARCHIVING, PRESERVATION, USE AND DISPOSAL OF AUDIT DOSSIERS

Article 9. Submission of audit dossiers for archiving

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2. Within 45 days after the audit report of the auditor team is published, the auditor team leader shall formulate list of documents included in the audit dossier and submit the dossier to the general affairs office of the auditing unit for archiving (if there is no general affairs office, the dossier shall be archived in a unit decided by head of the auditing unit). The dossier on audit quality control of the chief auditor shall be archived together with the audit dossier of the auditor team.

3. Within 20 working days after the report on inspection of audit recommendation adoption is published, the inspection team leader shall formulate and submit the dossier on inspection of audit conclusion and recommendation adoption to general affairs office of the auditing unit for archiving (if there is no general affairs office, the dossier shall be archived in a unit decided by head of the auditing unit).

4. Within 20 working days after the decision on audit complaint handling is issued, the dossier on audit complaint handling shall be submitted to general affairs office of the auditing unit for archiving (if there is no general affairs office, the dossier shall be archived in a unit decided by head of the auditing unit).

5. Within 12 months after the audit report of the chief auditor of specialized state audit unit is published, advisory units shall submit audit dossiers to the archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam managed by Department of Administration; audit dossiers of regional state audit units shall be submitted to archives of Regional State Audit Offices managed by Departments of Administration thereof. In case a dossier needs to be retained past the submission deadline, the chief auditor shall formulate and propose list of retained documents to State Auditor General (via Department of Administration) for consideration and handling; the dossier shall be retained for no more than 12 months after the submission deadline.

6. The auditing unit shall add dossiers and documents included in list of audit dossiers, dossier on inspection of adoption of audit conclusions and recommendations, dossier on handling of audit complaints and dossier on audit quality control of the chief auditor made 12 months or later after the audit report is published, excluding the dossiers mentioned in Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of this Article, to audit dossiers and retain in archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam (for specialized state audit units and advisory units) or archives of Regional State Audit Offices (for regional state audit units) within 45 days after work is completed.

7. Specialized state audit unit and advisory departments in charge of an audit shall retain the dossier on handling of the first complaint before submitting it to the archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam. Regional State Audit Office shall archive dossiers on handling of the first complaint of Regional State Audit Office. Department of General Affairs shall archive dossiers on handling of the second and subsequent complaints (if any).

8. Auditing unit leader shall organize submission of audit dossiers for archiving according to the Regulation on record storage of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

9. Digitalization, creation and archiving of electronic audit dossiers on software shall be carried out in compliance with existing regulations of State Audit Office of Vietnam on digitalization and management of electronic audit dossiers.

10. Work journals and audit journals written on electronic software in accordance with state regulations on electronic documents shall be recognized as valid and representative of the original documents and be integrated into electronic audit dossiers of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

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12. Submission of audit dossiers to National Archives Centers for archiving shall be carried out in a manner similar to archiving of other documents according to regulations of law and State Audit Office of Vietnam.

Article 10. Preservation of audit dossiers

1. Audit dossiers must be sufficiently and safety preserved with a scientifically sound arrangement to facilitate management and use.

2. Audit dossiers in the archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam shall be directly managed by Department of Administration; audit dossiers in archives of specialized state audit units and advisory units shall be directly managed by administration offices before they are submitted to the archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam (if there is no administration office, they shall be retained in a unit decided by the auditing unit leader); audit dossiers in archives of Regional State Audit Offices shall be directly managed by administration offices (before they are submitted to archives of Regional State Audit Offices) and Regional State Audit Offices.

3. Audit dossiers shall be archived for at least 10 years, unless a decision is issued by the competent authority. For electronic audit dossiers, upon expiry of the required archiving period, they shall be stored using long-term storage devices (such as magnetic tapes).

4. Archives of State Audit Office of Vietnam and Regional State Audit Offices must meet standards for specialized storages according to the Circular providing guidelines on specialized storages of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Article 11. Use of audit dossiers

1. Audit dossiers may be used in the following cases:

a) At the request of People’s Courts, People’s Procuracies, investigating authority and relevant regulatory bodies per the law;

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c) Upon formulation of audit plans for the following period;

d) Upon other requests per regulations of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

2. Decision permitting audit dossier use

a) State Auditor General has the power to decide use of audit dossiers in the cases mentioned in Point a and Point d Clause 1 herein;

b) Head of Department of Administration has the power to decide use of audit dossiers in the archive of State Audit Office of Vietnam in the cases mentioned in Point b and Point c Clause 1 herein;

c) Heads of affiliates of State Audit Office of Vietnam have the power to decide use of audit dossiers under the management of their units in the cases mentioned in Point b and Point c Clause 1 herein.

3. Organizations and individuals affiliated to State Audit Office of Vietnam may take audit dossiers out of their archives for work according to regulations in Clause 1 herein with the permission of the competent person and must return the dossiers intact after completing their work; transfer and receipt of audit dossiers must be recorded in writing.

4. Organizations and individuals not affiliated to State Audit Office of Vietnam wishing to use audit dossiers must have a letter of reference specifying the purpose of such use and comply with regulations of such use. They shall peruse the dossiers in the archives and may access only relevant documents. They may copy non-confidential documents in the archives with the permission of the competent person and the units directly managing the dossiers shall carry out such copying.

5. Archived documents included in state secret lists shall be used in compliance with Regulation on state secret protection of State Audit Office of Vietnam and relevant law provisions.

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1. Upon end of storage period, audit documents shall be disposed of according to regulations of State Audit Office of Vietnam, unless the competent authority issues a decision on disposal reconsideration.

2. Procedures for audit document disposal shall adhere to regulations in the Regulation on record management and storage of State Audit Office of Vietnam.

Article 13. Submission, preservation, use and disposal of audit documents included in state secret lists

Audit documents included in state secret lists shall be submitted, preserved, used and disposed of in compliance with Regulation on state secret protection of State Audit Office of Vietnam and relevant law provisions.

Article 14. Implementation responsibility