On March 29, 2011, the Law on Independent audit No. 67/2011/QH12 is passed during 9th session of the 12th National Assembly. The Law takes effect on January 01, 2012.

Clause 3 Article 9 of the Law on Independent audit says: “When a company or organization that is required to undergo audit discloses a financial statement or submits a financial statement to a competent authority, the financial statement must be enclosed with an audit report. Any financial statement submitted by an organization/company required to undergo audit without an enclosed audit must be reported by the recipient to a competent authority.

Article 34 of the Law on Accounting says: “1. The annual financial statement must be audited before it is submitted to a competent authority and before it is disclosed if it is made by an accounting unit that is required to undergo audit.

2. While being audited, the accounting unit must comply with audit laws.

3. When the audited financial statements are submitted to competent authorities according to Article 34 of this Law, they must be enclosed with audit reports”.

In addition, according to Clause 1, Clause 2 and Clause 3 Article 15 of the Government's Decree No. 17/2012/NĐ-CP dated March 13, 2012 providing guidance on some Article of the Law on Independent audit, the following entities must have their annual financial statements audited: Foreign-invested companies; the credit institutions established and operated within the Law on credit institutions, including branches in Vietnam of foreign banks; financial institutions, insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers, branches of foreign non-life insurers; public companies, the organizations that issue and trade in securities; other companies and organizations that must undergo audit according to relevant laws; the companies and organizations that must be audited by foreign auditors or their branches in Vietnam.

Point h Clause 2 Article 10 of the Government's Decree No. 105/2013/NĐ-CP dated September 16, 2013 on penalties for administrative violations against the laws on accounting and independent audits says: "A fine of between VND 20,000,000 and VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for submitting financial statements to competent authorities without enclosed audit reports when audit is compulsory by law”.

The Ministry of Finance demands that other authorities reject the financial statements submitted without enclosed audit reports by the entities required to undergo audit, and that the companies and organizations have their financial statements audited and send reports to competent authorities and the Ministry of Finance (the Department of Audit and Accounting) to facilitate their administration over accounting, independent audit, and penalty imposition.

The Ministry of Finance appreciates the cooperation of other authorities.