DECISION

ON THE ISSUANCE OF THE ARCHIVE REGIME FOR THE ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS IN BANKING AREA

THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE BANK

- Pursuant to the Law on State Bank of Vietnam No. 01/1997/QH10 dated 12/12/1997 and the Law on the amendment, supplement of several articles of the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam No. 10/2003/QH11 dated 17/6/2003;
- Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions No. 02/1997/QH10 dated 12/12/1997 and the Law on the amendment, supplement of several articles of the Law on Credit Institutions No. 20/2004/QH11 dated 15/6/2004;
- Pursuant to the Law on Accounting No. 03/2003/QH11 dated 17/6/2003;
- Pursuant to the Ordinance on national archive No. 34/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 dated 04/04/2001 of the National Assemblys Standing Committee of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
- Pursuant to the Decree No. 52/2003/ND-CP dated 19/5/2003 of the Government providing for the function, assignment, authority and organizational structure of the State Bank;
- Pursuant to the Decree No. 128/2004/ND-CP dated 31/5/2004 of the Government providing in details for and guiding the implementation of several articles of the Law on Accounting applicable in state accounting area;
- Pursuant to the Decree No. 129/2004/ND-CP dated 31/5/2004 of the Government providing in details for and guiding the implementation of several articles of the Law on Accounting applicable in business activity;
Upon the proposal of the Director of the Finance Accounting Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To issue in conjunction with this Decision the archive Regime for the accounting documents in Banking area.

Article 2. This Decision shall be effective after 15 days since its publication in the Official Gazette and replace the Decision No. 63/QD-NH2 dated 22/3/1997 of the Governor of the State Bank providing for the preservation of the accounting documents of the State Bank.

Article 3. The Director of the Administrative Department, Director of the Finance Accounting Department, Heads of units of the State Bank, General Manager of the State Bank branches in provinces, cities under the Central Governments management, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, General Director (Director) of Credit Institutions, Representative Offices of foreign credit institutions, non-credit institution organizations which engage in banking activity shall be responsible for the implementation of this Decision.

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FOR THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE BANK
DEPUTY GOVERNOR




Vu Thi Lien

ARCHIVE REGIME FOR THE ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS IN BANKING AREA

(Issued in conjunction with the Decision No.1913/2005/QD-NHNN dated 30 December 2005 of the Governor of the State Bank)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Governing scope

This Regime provides for the archive of the accounting documents in banking area. The accounting documents as provided for by this Regime shall be those which reflect the asset situation and the economic, financial activity of each bank including its Head office and branches and be a tool to inspect, supervise and analyse the economic, financial activity of each bank, each system of banks, including:

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2. Detailed accounting book, general accounting book

3. Financial statement, administrative accounting report

4. Other accounting documents concerning the accounting apart from those as provided for in paragraph 1, 2, 3 of this Article, including all types of contracts, documents relating to expenditures, capital, fund; documents concerning tax obligations to the State; documents relating to the inventory and assessment of assets; documents relating to examination, inspection, auditing; documents relating to the dissolution, bankruptcy, splitting, separation, merger, termination of operation, change in the form of ownership; minutes on the destruction of accounting documents and other documents relating to accounting.

Article 2. Subjects of application

Subjects of application of this Regime shall include:

1. The State Bank of Vietnam;

2. Credit Institutions, which are authorized to operate in Vietnam;

3. Representative offices of foreign credit institutions;

4. Non-credit institution organizations which engage in banking activity;

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Article 3. Accounting documents expressed in form of electronic data

If the accounting documents provided for in Article 2 are expressed in form of electronic data which are recorded in such information carriers as magnetic tape, magnetic disc, types of payment cards, they must be classified and sorted in accordance with the provisions in Article 6 of this Regime. The preservation, archive of the accounting documents, which are expressed in form of electronic data, must be implemented in compliance with current provisions of the State and the industrys on the preservation, archive of electronic data.

Article 4. Organizing the archive of accounting documents

Accounting documents to be archived must be the origin or the copy in accordance with the provisions in Article 16 of this Regime and must be preserved sufficiently, safely during the process of use and archive. Legal representative of Banks shall be responsible for organizing the preservation, archive of the accounting documents ensuring the security, sufficiency and lawfulness of the accounting documents.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 5. Archive period of accounting documents

1. Type of accounting documents which needs archiving at least for 5 years;

2. Type of accounting documents which needs archiving at least for 10 years;

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Article 6. Classification of accounting documents

After using, the accounting documents must be entirely handed over to an accountant who is in charge of procedures on the preservation of accounting documents. On receipt of the documents, that person must check all accounting documents and ensure to gather sufficiently the accounting documents and carry out the classification of the accounting documents under the archive period:

1. Type of accounting documents which needs archiving at least for 5 years, includes:

a. Accounting documents which are used for regular management of a bank and are not directly used for making entries to the accounting book and drawing financial statement shall be archived at least for 5 years from the end of an annual accounting period, for example receipt note, payment note, storing-in note, storing-out note which are not archived in the accounting documents file of the accounting division.

b. Other accounting documents which are used for management and other accounting vouchers which are not directly used for making entries to the accounting book and drawing financial statement.

2. Type of accounting documents which needs archiving at least for 10 years, includes:

a. Accounting vouchers which are directly used for making entries to the accounting book and drawing financial statement, lists, detailed general tables, detailed accounting books, general accounting books, annual, quarterly and monthly financial reports of the bank, settlement report, minutes on the destruction of archived accounting documents and other documents concerning the entry of accounting book and the preparation of financial statement which contains auditing report and report on the accounting inspection;

b. Accounting documents concerning the liquidation of fixed assets;

c. Accounting documents of annual accounting periods and accounting documents on the Report of investment capital settlement of finished projects by project management Board and investors (which are not projects of group A);

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d. Other accounting documents of a bank, which are used in several cases required by the laws to be archived for more than 10 years, the archive shall be performed in accordance with that provision.

e. Documents, file concerning the auditing of financial statements by the state auditing firms, independent auditing firms.

3. Type of accounting documents which needs archiving timelessly includes:

a. Files, report on the settlement of the capital invested in capital construction of projects of group A

b. Accounting documents which have historical nature, important historical, politic, economic meaning and are permanently related to the banks activities

The determination of which accounting documents need archiving timelessly shall be decided upon by the legal representative of the bank, he shall, basing on the historical nature and the importance of documents, information, make decision on each specific case and deliver these documents to the accounting division or other archive division to archive them as the original copies. Period of timeless archive must be an archive period of more than 10 years till the accounting documents are naturally destroyed or destroyed in accordance with the decision of the legal representative of the Bank.

4. It shall not be entitled to apply the archive period under this Regime to the accounting documents, which cease their archive period but are related to lawsuits, disputes or cases which were, have been being or have not yet been judged, but apply the period as provided for by current related laws or decision of the competent person.

Article 7. Arrangement of accounting documents

1. Before being bounded to volume, the accounting documents must be arranged under each type of document (accounting voucher, accounting book, financial statement, ect) in time order under each annual accounting period to ensure the appropriateness, easiness to look up, to use when required.

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Before being bound to diary volume, the vouchers shall be arranged under transaction type (vouchers on cash transaction, vouchers on electronic payment, internal vouchers, vouchers on the adjustment, off-balance sheet vouchers, etc). It is required to draw up a List of arising vouchers...... for each type of transaction and bind it with the vouchers which are arranged under the transaction order within a day. The original vouchers must be bound with the book entry vouchers.

The diary of vouchers shall be arranged under the following order:

a. General List of vouchers of all types

b. Fund diary (bound right on the cash vouchers)

c. List of arising vouchers (type of transaction) enclosed with vouchers of that type which arise in the day

3. In respect of important accounting documents with timeless archive period, which are related to the book entry, it shall be entitled to duplicate them (including attached documents). The copies shall be bound to the diary of vouchers to ensure the continuity in accordance with the provisions in Article 7 of this Regime. There must have the signature of the chief accountant or of the person in charge of accounting (hereinafter referred to as chief accountant) and person who is in charge of procedures on the preservation of accounting documents in that copy to confirm that it is duplicated from the original one.

Article 8. Packaging of accounting documents

1. After the accounting documents are arranged under the above order, the person in charge of procedures on the preservation of the accounting documents shall be responsible for binding them to firm, tidy volumes. Outside of the volume of accounting documents shall be a cover which clearly states such main contents as: name of unit, name of the accounting document, arising date, person who binds and numbers.

2. Accounting vouchers shall be bound to vouchers volume under each arising day. All vouchers in the volume (including the general list of vouchers of all types, the list of arising vouchers (type of transaction), book entry vouchers, original vouchers, etc) must be numbered continuously from 01 upward. Beside above contents, the cover of the vouchers volume must clearly state that this vouchers diary contains: .... vouchers numbered from 01 to .....

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Where there are too few accounting vouchers arising in a day, it is permitted to bind the vouchers arising in several days to a volume but there must have a cover to separate the vouchers in different days, the outside cover of the vouchers volume must clearly state that diary of vouchers from the date of..... to.....

3. Prior to handing over the accounting documents to the archive division, the accounting division must pack the documents into bundles (or sack, trunk, bucket) under each type of documents, period of preservation. It is required to clearly state such main contents outside each bundle (or sack, trunk, bucket) of documents as: name of unit, name of accounting documents, total of volumes in each bundle (or sack, trunk, bucket), accounting year, archive number, archive period, expiry date of archive, packer.

Article 9. Delivery and receipt of accounting documents

The delivery and receipt of accounting documents between the accounting division and archive division shall be performed on the basis of each bundle (or sack, trunk, bucket) and it must be supported by a minutes on the delivery and receipt of the accounting documents to be archived. The minutes must state in details each content, contain the signature of deliverer and receiver. The minutes shall be made into 2 copies, each party keeps one.

Article 10. Book for following up the accounting documents to be archived

At the archive store of the bank, it is required to open a Book for following up the accounting documents to be archived to write down, follow up and manage the accounting documents which are being in archive of the bank. The book for following up the accounting documents to be archived must contain the following main contents: type of documents to be archived, archive number, date of archive, actuality of documents when being archived, archive period, expiry date of archive.

Article 11. Archive place of the accounting documents

1. Accounting documents of a bank shall be archived at the archive store of that bank. The archive store of the accounting documents must be situated near the area where the head office of the bank is located, must have full equipment for preservation and preservation conditions to ensure the security during the archive process in accordance with provisions of applicable laws.

2. Where there is not an archive division or archive store in the bank, the bank shall hire an archive organization or agency to perform the archive of accounting documents on the basis of an archive contract in accordance with provisions of applicable laws.

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4. Accounting documents of the bank which terminates the operation, dissolves, goes bankrupt, including those of annual accounting periods which are in the archive period and those relating to the operation termination, dissolution, bankruptcy shall be archived at the place in accordance with the decision of the agency which has competence to decide on the operation termination, dissolution and bankruptcy.

5. Accounting documents of the bank which is equitized, changes the ownership form, including the accounting documents of annual accounting periods which are in the archive period and those relating to the equitization, change in the form of ownership shall be archived in the bank which is new owner or archived at the place under the decision of the agency which has competence to decide on the equitization, change in the form of ownership.

6. Accounting documents of annual accounting periods which are in the archive period of the banks which are splitted, separated into 2 or several new banks:

a. If it is possible to distribute the accounting documents to new banks, the distribution and archive shall be performed at the new banks

b. If it is impossible to distribute the accounting documents to new banks, the archive shall be performed at the splitted or separated banks or performed at the place under the decision of the agency which has competence to decide on the split and separation of the bank

c. Accounting documents relating to the split, separation shall be archived at newly splitted, separated banks;

7. Accounting documents of annual accounting periods, which are still in the archive period and those relating to the merger of banks shall be archived at the banks which accept the merger.

Article 12. Responsibilities of related units for the accounting documents to be archived

1. In respect of the accounting division: accountant and person in charge of procedures on voucher preservation shall be responsible for preserving accounting documents fully, undamagedly, safely at their place, shall not be entitled to provide documents without the acceptance of chief accountant. The chief accountant shall be responsible for the safeness, sufficiency as well as the validity, legality of the accounting documents and the accuracy of the contents stated in the volume, bundle (or sack, trunk, bucket) of accounting documents to be archived.

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3. In respect of the legal representatives of banks: within the scope of their authority, they shall be responsible for directing the archive and the application of science and technology for modernizing the archive, improving the efficiency of the management, security and exploitation, use of archived documents. The legal representatives of the banks shall be responsible to the laws for the safeness, sufficiency and legality of the accounting documents being in archive of the bank.

Article 13. Exploitation, use, provision of accounting documents to be archived

Banks shall be responsible for the provision of accounting information, documents to state agencies which have competence to perform the inspection, examination, investigation, audit functions in accordance with provisions of applicable laws. The provision of accounting information, documents shall be decided upon by the legal representatives of the Banks in accordance with provisions of applicable laws.

The exploitation, use of archived accounting documents must be approved in writing by the legal representatives of the Banks or by the authorized person.

Article 14. Sealing up, temporary seizure, confiscation of accounting documents

1. In the event where the competent state agency decides to seal up the accounting documents in accordance with provisions of applicable laws, the Banks and representatives of the competent state agency who perform the sealing up of the accounting documents shall draw up a Minutes on the sealing up of accounting documents. The Minutes on the sealing up of the accounting documents must clearly state the reason thereof, quantity, type, accounting period of the accounting documents to be sealed up. Legal representatives of the Banks and the representative of the state agency, which is competent to seal up the accounting documents, must sign their name and seal in the Minutes on the sealing up of the accounting documents.

2. In the event where the competent state agency temporarily seizes or confiscates the accounting documents, the Banks and representative of the state agency who is competent to perform the temporary seizure, confiscation of the accounting documents must draw up a Minutes on the delivery and receipt of accounting documents. The Minutes on the delivery and receipt of accounting documents must state clearly the reason, type of documents, quantity of each type of documents, actuality of each type of documents being temporarily seized or confiscated; in the event of temporary seizure, therein the time of using, time of returning the accounting documents must be stated clearly. The legal representatives of the Banks and the representative of the state agency which is competent to temporarily seize, confiscate the accounting documents must sign their name and seal in the Minutes on the delivery and receipt of accounting documents, at the same time, duplicate the accounting documents which are temporarily seized or confiscated, sign their name and seal for confirmation of the representative of the state agency which is competent to temporarily seize or confiscate the accounting documents in the duplicated accounting documents. For the accounting documents which are expressed in the form of electronic data, Banks shall print in papers and comply with the procedures as provided for accounting documents before being temporarily seized or confiscated.

Article 15. In case where the accounting documents are lost or destroyed

Upon detecting that the accounting documents are lost or destroyed, the Bank shall set up a Council of accounting documents restoring and processing which is chaired by the Legal Representative of the Bank and the Chief Accountant and representative of related divisions shall be members. The Council shall perform following tasks:

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2. Organizing the restoration, conservation of the lost, destroyed accounting documents which are possible to be recovered.

3. Contacting the individuals, organizations which engage in the transaction of accounting documents, data to make a copy or reconfirm the accounting documents being lost and destroyed.

4. For the accounting documents relating to assets but impossible to be recovered by methods provided for in paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 of this Article, therein the assets shall be inventoried to re-draw the lost or destroyed accounting documents.

Article 16. Duplicated accounting documents

The duplicated accounting documents must be copied from the origin and supported by the confirmation signature of the legal representative of the Bank where the origin is archived or the State agency which is competent to temporarily seize, confiscate the accounting documents. The duplicated accounting documents shall comply with the provisions of applicable laws in following cases:

1. Cases provided for in paragraph 2 in Article 14, paragraph 3 in Article 15 of this Regime.

2. In the event where the accounting document has the only origin but it is required to archive in both two places, therein one of the two places shall archive the duplicated one.

3. Other cases in accordance with provisions of applicable laws.

Article 17. Time for calculating the archive period of accounting documents

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2. For the accounting documents provided for in item c paragraph 2 in Article 6 the time for calculating the archive period shall begin from the date when the Report on the settlement of investment capital of the finished project is approved.

3. For the accounting documents provided for in item d, and audit documents, files provided for in item e paragraph 2 in Article 6 the time for calculating the archive period shall begin from the ending date of the work.

Article 18. Time limit for putting the accounting documents into archive

1. The accounting documents of the finished accounting year, which have not been used for recording in the accounting book in the following accounting period, shall be put into archive within 12 months at the latest from the ending date of the annual accounting period.

2. The accounting documents concerning report on the settlement of investment capital of the finished projects shall be put into archive within 12 months at the latest from the date when Report on the settlement of investment capital of the finished project is approved.

3. The accounting documents relating to the termination of operation, dissolution, bankruptcy, equitization, change in the form of ownership, split, separation shall be put into archive within 6 months at the latest from the ending date of each work mentioned above.

Article 19. The destruction of accounting documents which expire the archive period

1. The accounting documents which expire the archive period in accordance with applicable provisions unless otherwise provided for by competent State agencies shall be destroyed in accordance with the decision of the Legal Representative of the Bank.

2. The accounting documents being archived at which Bank, that Bank shall perform the destruction.

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Article 20. Procedures on the destruction of the accounting documents which expire the archive period

1. On the annual basis, the Legal representative of the Bank shall decide on the establishment of a Council of destroying the accounting documents which expire the archive period. Members of the Council shall comprise 01 representative of the Board of Management of the Bank, Chief Accountant, a representative of the control division and a representative of the archive division;

2. The Council of destroying accounting documents shall inventory, evaluate, classify each type of accounting documents and draw up a List of the accounting documents to be destroyed, and a Minutes on the destruction of the accounting documents which expire the archive period.

3. The Minutes on the destruction of the accounting documents shall be drawn up right after the accounting documents are destroyed. The Minutes on the destruction of the accounting documents which expire the archive period must state clearly following main contents: type of accounting documents, quantity of destroyed documents, archived period of each type (from year, to year), form of the destruction, conclusion and signature of members of the Destruction Council.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 21. Heads of units of the State Bank, within the scope of their assignment, shall organize the implementation of this Regime.

Chairperson of the Board of Directors, General Director (Director) of credit institutions, Representative offices of foreign credit institutions, non-credit institution organizations engaging in banking activity shall be responsible for the implementation of this Regime in their units.

Article 22. Any act of deteriorating, damaging or losing the archived accounting documents, depending on the nature, seriousness of the violation, shall be subject to the administrative punishment or treated in accordance with provisions of applicable laws.

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Quyết định 1913/2005/QĐ-NHNN vềChế độ lưu trữ tài liệu kế toán trong ngành Ngân hàng do Thống đốc Ngân hàng Nhà nước ban hành