Accountants failing to meet int'l standards

HA NOI — Viet Nam's auditing and accounting industry was in need of more professional and qualified staff to conform to international accounting standards, said Rob Thomason, Executive General Manager, Business Development, CPA Australia.

"Within Viet Nam, a developing country, companies are looking for great levels for investment. They come looking for IPOs as a lot of State-owned enterprises are sold to commercialise," said the official of CPA Australia, one of the world's leading professional associations for accountants and auditors.

"Those investors utilise agencies to give them the opportunity to see what is really happening within the company. So, that really drives the demand for professional accounting," he said.

However, there were challenges facing companies, especially multinational ones, in seeking young professional people engaged in professional accountancy, he noted.

As one of the many increasing efforts to raise the quality of accountancy in Viet Nam, CPA Australia has recently appointed four leading auditing and consulting companies in the market as Recognised Employer Partners (REP), a programme designed to help employers attract, develop and retain top accounting and finance staff for their organisations.

The country's first approved enterprises were Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG.

Methods used to train auditors and accountants needed fundamental change, said Viet Nam Association of Accountants and Auditors President Dang Van Thanh.

Viet Nam's accounting and auditing systems needed greater capability to analyse economic and financial information and make forecasts, Thanh said. — VNS