In 2002 six more standards followed.
• In 2003, the Accounting Law was introduced which establishes the legal
framework for Vietnamese Accounting Standards for public and private
sectors.
• In 2003, the MoF also committed itself to the International Federation of
Accountants (IFAC) (having joined in 1998), to achieve 90 per cent
convergence with international accounting standards in 2005 (VNexpress
2003).
• In 2011, the MoF announced its intention to revise the existing Vietnamese
accounting standards to align with the current IFRS. The Vietnamese
Accounting Standards Board (VASB) and a project team of 44 members had
also been formed (Ministry of Finance 2011). As yet, the MoF has not
determined whether to adopt fully IFRS, converge or keep VAS (Nguyen,
Hooper & Sinclair 2012).
• In 2013, the MoF proposed six new accounting standards for capital markets
and amendments for eight existing accounting standards
As of the time of writing this paper, IFRS are only required in Vietnam for state-owned
banks and permitted for commercial banks. All other Vietnamese companies, listed or
non-listed, must report under VAS. Subsidiaries of foreign companies are subject to the
same rules as all domestic companies (i.e., VAS compliance is mandatory).