Revised Vietnam State Audit Law Promotes More Effective Public Finance Supervision, Anti-corruption Measures

The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam officially approved a new State Audit Law in November 2019 aimed to enhance State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) effectiveness, efficiency and capacity.
Specifically, the new law, which takes effect July 1, 2020:

• Defines agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities;
• Enhances the SAV mandate in evaluating information and documentation directly related to audit purpose and scope of auditees and agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities, as well as managing public finance resources;
• Allows the SAV access to the national database and electronic data of auditees and agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities. The SAV is responsible for information confidentiality and security in accordance with State Law;
• Adds sanctioning principles for administrative violations in the state audit field (specific fines and procedures shall be prescribed by laws on handling administrative violations); and
• Provides a legal basis to improve anti-corruption measures by: guaranteeing consistency and compatibility among State Audit Law, Anti-corruption Law and related regulations; enabling the Auditor General to issue audit regulations on cases demonstrating signs of corruption. These regulations will explain audit steps and procedures, verify corruption cases and disclose audit reports on these cases; adding responsibilities to the Government Inspectorate and the SAV in coordinating efforts and avoiding overlap and duplication between the two agencies (the SAV, within its scope and mandate, shall assume primary coordination responsibility); allowing agencies, organizations and individuals involved in state audit activities to file complaints to the Auditor General about audit team performance regarding legal violations and infringements on auditee rights and benefits. Auditees may also address concerns about audit report evaluations, verification, conclusions and recommendations. If auditees disagree with the Auditor General’s decision, they may partly or wholly take legal action, and the final settlement shall be made in accordance with administrative procedural law.

Learn more about the SAV online at http://www.sav.gov.vn.