Introduction
Most foreign-invested companies in Vietnam start by outsourcing their accounting to an accounting firm. Whether to keep accounting in-house or outsource it is covered in a separate article, “Vietnam FIE Accounting: In-house vs Outsourcing (Accounting Firm & BPO).” Once you decide to outsource, the next question is which firm to trust with the work.
This choice is often made on the basis of a price list and a referral alone. The result is complaints that surface after signing: responses are slow, the English communication turns out to be shallow once the topic gets technical, or extra fees appear at year-end close. Switching firms later takes real effort, so the first assessment largely determines how stable your accounting will be.
This article organizes the criteria worth checking before you choose an accounting firm in Vietnam into seven points. For companies that already use a firm, it also touches on how to think about switching at the end.
1. Define the scope of work you want to delegate
Before choosing a firm, decide how much of the work you actually want to hand over. If this stays vague while you collect competing quotes, the scope differs from firm to firm, and lining up the numbers tells you nothing meaningful.
The services Vietnamese accounting firms provide generally break down as follows.
| Scope | Main content |
| Bookkeeping | Journal entries, ledgers, monthly trial balance |
| Monthly close and management reports | Monthly close, management reports for headquarters |
| Tax filing | VAT, corporate income tax (CIT), personal income tax (PIT), etc. |
| Payroll and social insurance | Payroll calculation, social insurance (BHXH) procedures |
| Annual work and audit support | Annual financial statements, statutory audit document preparation and liaison with auditors |
| Authority handling | Answering queries, preparing documents for and attending tax inspections, drafting explanatory letters |
Even within the same item, how far a firm goes varies. For “authority handling,” is it only answering queries, or does the firm attend a tax inspection and argue the company’s position directly? For companies subject to statutory audit, how much the accounting firm handles the audit firm — document preparation only, or also the back-and-forth and responses to findings — also differs by firm. Writing out the scope you want at this level of detail reduces later disputes over “that wasn’t included in the contract.”
One more point: in Vietnam, a company is in principle required to have a Chief Accountant or a person in charge of accounting. The treatment differs by company size and time since establishment, so if you do not appoint one internally, confirm whether the accounting firm can provide this function. Go beyond “is it included in the service” and confirm who is formally appointed, which documents that person signs, and how far their responsibility extends.
2. Check the base fee and the additional fees
Choosing a firm on the headline monthly figure alone leads to unexpected costs later. What matters is not the amount itself but what is included in it and what is billed separately.
A monthly bookkeeping fee may look cheap while the annual close, final tax return, audit support, and responses to authority queries are all charged separately. Some firms are vague about the basis for extra charges as transaction volume grows. Before signing, pin down in writing what the base fee covers and the conditions under which additional fees arise.
If the price is unusually low, it is worth also looking at how many clients each staff member handles and what internal checking the firm has. Day-to-day accounting is tightly bound up with tax checks and document management, so thin coverage means more errors and missed checks — and, as a result, your own managers spend a great deal of time on corrections and follow-up confirmation. Judge the price together with the scope of service and the quality of response.
3. Check the actual language support and the people involved
Most accounting firms that serve foreign-invested companies can communicate in English, at least for routine correspondence, so English ability alone is not much of a differentiator. What varies from firm to firm is the depth — whether the person who actually makes accounting and tax judgments can explain the reasoning in English, or whether only the sales and front-office staff are fluent while the technical staff cannot discuss the substance.
That gap matters because accounting and tax discussions are full of technical terms, and a firm that cannot explain the “why” behind a treatment in English leaves you unable to judge whether the treatment is right. What to look for is not whether they can communicate in English, but whether they can explain the reasoning behind an accounting or tax judgment in it.
Clarify who each of the following three is and in what language they work.
- The point of contact during sales and contracting
- The staff member you exchange documents with day to day
- The person who makes accounting and tax judgments
The salesperson may be fluent while the staff you deal with daily is someone else entirely — this is common. Before signing, ask to arrange a meeting with the actual contact person.
4. Look at deadline management and turnaround speed
A firm’s real ability shows in its day-to-day handling more than in its price list. Deadline management and turnaround speed in particular are directly tied to stable accounting.
In Vietnam, tax filings and various registrations have statutory deadlines, and missing them can bring administrative penalties or additional charges for delay. The stability of the relationship changes greatly depending on whether the firm scrambles for documents at the last minute or arranges things with room to spare.
Before signing, ask about the following concretely.
- The target turnaround for ordinary queries (next business day, or several days)
- Whether they issue the monthly financial statements on the schedule you want
- How many days before the deadline they complete the tax filing
These are not written in any brochure, so the reliable way is to ask directly in a meeting. In my experience, the more concrete a firm’s answers, the better organized its actual workflow tends to be.
5. Look at the team and the internal review structure
Whether you get a fixed staff member is a natural concern, but more important is whether there is a structure that keeps quality stable even when the person changes. A setup that depends too heavily on one fixed individual collapses the moment that person leaves.
Turnover at Vietnamese accounting firms is relatively high, and when your contact changes frequently, you end up re-explaining your circumstances and past history each time. Past tax positions and the reasons behind why a treatment is handled a certain way often live in one staff member’s head; if handover is weak, consistency breaks down.
Before signing, check the following.
- Who the main contact is
- Whether a senior reviews the work
- Whether there is a backup when the contact is unavailable
- Who approves important tax judgments
- How handover is done when the contact changes
6. Check whether they can handle your industry, transactions, and tax
Even within the same firm, capability changes with the experience of the team and the person in charge. It is more practical to look at whether they have experience relevant to your industry and transactions than at the firm’s size.
For foreign-invested companies in particular, the quality of tax handling is what matters most. Tax inspections in Vietnam are strict, and there are plenty of areas where the interpretation of the law is ambiguous. In situations you cannot judge from the text of the regulation alone, how well the firm grasps the authorities’ recent views and other companies’ practical cases makes a large difference to the outcome.
For example, ask whether they have the following experience and knowledge.
- Experience in your industry (manufacturing, EPE [export processing enterprise], trading, IT, services, etc.)
- How much experience they have handling tax inspections
- Their grasp of the authorities’ recent views and other companies’ practical cases in areas where the law is ambiguous
- Experience with intra-group transactions and transfer pricing
- Experience with companies subject to statutory audit
- Experience preparing reports for an overseas parent company
Firm size is one factor that supports this capability. In the early stage of entry, when transactions are simple, a mid-sized or small firm is often enough; a company with complex issues is safer with a firm that has depth. Rather than size alone, judge on whether the experience and structure match your complexity and tax risk.
7. Check the terms for contract termination, data return, and handover
Easy to overlook, but before signing a contract it is well worth checking the conditions for when the contract ends. If this is vague, you can end up with your data effectively held hostage when you want to switch.
Check the following before signing.
- Who owns the ledger and filing data
- In what format you can receive the data after the contract ends
- Who manages the e-invoice and tax system accounts
- The advance notice period for termination
- Whether handover work incurs additional fees
- Whether documents and background are recorded when a staff member leaves
- How confidential and personal data are managed
It is also worth visiting the firm once before signing and meeting the staff in person. How tidy the office is or the atmosphere among staff does not decide quality, but it is a clue to the real character of a partner you will work with for a long time. If a company nearby uses the same firm, asking about its reputation can surface information you cannot get from public materials alone.
Supplement: Switching from your current accounting firm
If you already use an accounting firm and are unhappy with the service, switching is an option. Because it involves the effort of data migration and handover, however, timing and preparation matter.
Signs that you should consider switching include chronic delays past filing deadlines, chronically slow responses to queries, and frequent changes of contact that make communication break down. If these problems happen repeatedly rather than once, they are likely a structural issue on the firm’s side.
For timing, it is safer to avoid, where possible, the run-up to the annual close or an important filing. That said, when there is a serious problem, there are cases where a change should be considered even during the closing period. In any case, confirm the exit terms with the old firm in advance so that past ledger data, filing history, and records of exchanges with the authorities can be handed over properly.
Conclusion
When choosing an accounting firm in Vietnam, judging on more than price alone — across the seven angles of delegated scope, the fee breakdown, language support and the people involved, deadline management, review structure, capability in your industry and tax, and contract-exit terms — is what leads to stable accounting afterward.
An accounting firm is a long-term partner that supports your accounting. Compare several firms, meet them in person, and decide only after you have confirmed things for yourself. This small extra effort prevents large rework later. And if you reach the stage of moving beyond outsourcing to bring accounting in-house, see also the separate article, “Your First In-House Accountant in Vietnam: Who to Hire.”
FAQ
Q1. What determines an accounting firm’s fee?
Mainly the scope and volume of work. Specifically, it varies with the monthly number of journal entries and vouchers, the number of employees, the types of tax filing, whether there are foreign-currency or overseas transactions, the content of monthly reports, whether the Chief Accountant function is included, and the scope of tax-inspection and audit support. Rather than a market rate, the reliable approach is to compare quotes from several firms on the same conditions, checking what each quoted figure includes and whether the close, filings, and authority handling are billed separately.
Q2. If a firm can communicate in English, can I safely leave everything to them?
Not necessarily. Most firms that serve foreign-invested companies can handle English for routine correspondence, so English ability alone is not much of a differentiator. What matters more is depth: whether the person who actually makes accounting and tax judgments — not only the sales contact — can explain the reasoning in English. Before signing, confirm who your day-to-day contact will be and whether they can discuss the substance, not just exchange routine emails.
Q3. I want to switch from my current accounting firm — anything to watch out for?
Where possible, avoid the run-up to the annual close or an important filing and move at a natural break point. Prepare so that past ledger data, filing history, and records of exchanges with the authorities can be handed over properly, and confirm the exit terms with the old firm in advance. When choosing the new firm, the seven points in this article are a useful guide.
