Speaking at the event, Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan highlighted the need to standardize financial reporting to create a transparent business environment and attract more investment.

With high levels of economic openness alongside agreements that facilitate trade liberalization and investment flows, especially from the private sector, Vietnam needs to comply with financial reporting standards, he said.

Chief JICA representative in Vietnam Konaka Tesuo described IFRS as an important tool to pooling global financial resources. He said that over the past year, JICA has been conducted surveys and sharing Japanese and other Asian countries’ experience in using IFRS. Meanwhile the Ministry of Finance has been considering the most appropriate road-map to IFRS adoption.

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Illustrative image. Source: VNA

A representative from the finance ministry’s Department of Accounting and Audit Regulations said that once the IFRS is adopted, corporate financial reports will improve significantly on the back of promoting better accountability and transparency among businesses.

The number of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam is also expected to increase as they could cut the cost of switching financial statements under Vietnam’s accounting standards to those under IFRS to be synchronous with their parent companies abroad.

Several participants said difficulties still lie ahead when it comes to IFRS adoption as Vietnam’s capital market is still limited, while financial tools such as convertible bonds, derivatives, and preferred stocks are yet to be traded widely.

They said unless thorough preparations are made, it will be hard to adopt IFRS successfully.

Source: VNA