Introduction
If you are managing a subsidiary in Vietnam, you may have had the feeling, at some point, that “no major problem has happened with accounting, but somehow the team isn’t quite running smoothly.”
Monthly reporting is a little late. The same kinds of clarifications come up every month. The Chief Accountant or accounting manager always seems to be busy. There is no clear fraud or major error, so it is genuinely hard for a manager to judge how far they should step in.
The difficulty with an accounting team is that the state inside is hard to see from the outside. The people are visibly working, and on the surface things look like they are moving. The Chief Accountant is also not in a position where it is easy to walk up to senior management and say, “the team is not running.”
But strain in an accounting team almost always surfaces in some form. It usually does not arrive as a major incident first. It tends to appear as “small signs of something off” — a slow drift in monthly close timing, recurring adjustments, requests piling up on accounting, training that stops moving forward.
This article walks through five symptoms that tend to appear at foreign-invested subsidiaries in Vietnam when the accounting team is not running well. We hope it serves as a set of checkpoints for reviewing your own accounting setup based on observable facts.
Strain in an Accounting Team Surfaces First as a “Subtle Feeling”
Accounting team issues rarely show up overnight.
In most cases, they progress quietly over months and quarters. At first, each instance is explained away — “this month happened to be busy,” “we had an audit,” “headquarters sent an extra request.” But when those explanations keep coming for six months, then a year, the underlying issue is no longer about a single month. The team’s structure itself may be under increasing pressure.
At foreign-invested companies in Vietnam in particular, the accounting team is not simply doing bookkeeping.
It is handling three different logics at the same time — headquarters reporting, local accounting, and local tax. The management reports headquarters wants, the books required under Vietnamese Accounting Standards (VAS), and the documentation and filings the tax authorities need to see — these look similar, but they cannot always be reconciled under the same framework.
Because of this, what looks from the outside like “accounting is slow” may, in reality, be the team navigating multiple standards and stakeholders at once.
That is why the right question for a manager is not “who is to blame?” The first thing to look at is which symptoms the team is showing.
Symptom 1: The Monthly Close Date Is Gradually Slipping Later
The first thing worth checking is the completion date of the monthly close.
In companies where the accounting team is stable, the monthly close schedule does not move around much. Some months are heavier than others, but there is a reasonable expectation of which business day the numbers will be ready.
In companies where the team is starting to come apart, the close date drifts later, little by little.
What used to close on business day 5 starts taking until business day 7, then 8, then 10. Every month, there is an explanation — “this month was busy,” “the data came in late,” “there were a lot of items to confirm.” But if the pattern continues, this is no longer a one-off delay. It is likely a sign of strain somewhere in volume, review process, or staffing.
The important thing here is not to look at the most recent month alone. Lay out the monthly close completion dates for the last twelve months side by side, and the trend becomes visible.
Is it a single bad month? Or has the close been quietly slipping later over a six-month-plus stretch?
If it is the latter, this should be read as a signal that the team’s processing capacity is no longer keeping up with the workload.
Symptom 2: The Same Kinds of Adjustments Recur Every Month
Adjusting entries are not, in themselves, immediately a problem.
In Vietnam, some level of adjustment is normal across monthly close, quarterly review, year-end audit, and tax reviews. At foreign-invested companies in particular, headquarters reporting and local accounting and tax do not always organize the same items the same way, and adjustments arise from that gap.
The issue is when the same type of adjustment recurs every month, or every year.
Adjustments in the same account every month. Auditors flagging the same point year after year. Repeated adjustments in specific areas — inventory, revenue, expense recognition, accruals, foreign exchange. And yet, none of it is reflected in how the following month’s processing is done.
When this is the pattern, the issue is rarely a simple mistake. The check process may not be functioning.
In a team that is actually running, an adjustment is followed by the question “why did this happen?” and “who is going to catch this next time, and where?” In a team that is not, the adjusting itself becomes part of the routine, and there is no time left to address the cause.
For managers, it is worth looking not only at the count of adjusting entries but at whether the same types of adjustments keep recurring.
Symptom 3: “Ask Accounting” Has Become an Internal Reflex
At companies where the accounting team is exhausted, accounting often quietly becomes the office’s “general question desk.”
Sales checking contract terms. Procurement checking payment terms or whether a particular invoice will be accepted. HR consulting on personal income tax or social insurance. Headquarters asking for explanations of numbers or supporting materials. Import, inventory, and customs queries routing through accounting because of the numbers.
To some extent, this is natural. Accounting touches the company’s numbers and supporting documents, so it will inevitably field questions from other functions. The fact that accounting understands the whole company is, in many ways, a strength.
But when it becomes “anything we don’t know, just ask accounting,” the team’s core work gets squeezed.
At foreign-invested subsidiaries in Vietnam in particular, the Chief Accountant or accounting manager often ends up covering not just accounting and tax but also contracts, labor, general affairs, and headquarters liaison. The more conscientious and responsible they are, the harder it is to say no.
The result is that, from the manager’s seat, “accounting is slow” — while in reality much of accounting’s time is being absorbed by inquiries that have nothing to do with accounting itself.
It is worth asking the accounting team something like this:
In the past month, how much time did you spend on questions and requests that were not directly accounting work?
Just that single question tends to bring a lot of invisible load into view.
Symptom 4: New Hires Arrive, but the Chief Accountant’s Load Does Not Lighten
You bring in additional headcount, but somehow the Chief Accountant’s or senior staff’s workload doesn’t ease. This is another symptom that commonly appears at companies where the accounting team is not running.
Six months after joining, the new hire cannot complete their own scope of work independently. The same clarifications are needed every month. The Chief Accountant has to sit next to them and explain things constantly. When this pattern continues, the issue is rarely just about the new hire’s ability — there is likely something to look at in how onboarding and training are set up.
In Vietnam, even when a CV shows “X years of accounting experience,” the actual scope the person handled may have been quite narrow — only accounts payable, only accounts receivable, only invoice processing, only assisting with tax filings.
That means “X years of experience” on hire does not necessarily translate to being able to take on the subsidiary’s monthly cycle right away.
When new hires don’t grow, the background usually involves several factors:
- Job descriptions are vague
- Responsibility scopes are not clearly separated
- Manuals and checklists do not exist
- The Chief Accountant is too busy to make time for teaching
- The skills expected at hire did not match the actual experience
In this situation, adding more headcount can simply increase the Chief Accountant’s coaching load.
Before deciding “we are short-staffed, so let’s hire,” it is important to first confirm where each existing member can currently run on their own.
Symptom 5: During Peak Periods, the Role Allocation Falls Apart
An accounting team’s true state shows up in peak periods more than in calm ones.
Year-end close, audit support, tax inspections, transfer pricing documentation, ERP implementation, additional reporting from headquarters — when these overlap, you can see clearly whether the team’s role allocation is actually functioning.
In a team that is running, each member keeps ownership of their area even in peak periods. The Chief Accountant is not absorbed into every detail; their time goes to judgment-heavy issues, external engagement, and explaining the situation to headquarters.
In a team that is not, peak periods drag everyone onto the same task.
Without clear ownership, everyone searches for the same documents, everyone checks the same numbers, and the Chief Accountant reviews everything at the end. From outside, it can look like “the whole team is pulling together,” but in reality role allocation has collapsed and dependence on the Chief Accountant is even higher than usual.
Repeated peak periods like this wear the team down. Eventually, this is what drives Chief Accountants or key members toward the exit.
Simply looking back, after a peak period is over, at how each member spent their time can reveal a great deal.
What to Suspect When Multiple Symptoms Appear
Any single symptom from the above could be a one-off issue.
But when several symptoms appear at the same time, the team’s structure is likely under strain.
For example, if the monthly close is slipping, adjustments are rising, and new hires are not growing, the issue is probably not just “accounting staff are slow.” Workload, review process, hiring criteria, training, inbound requests from other functions, and headquarters reporting demands are likely overlapping.
Or, if requests are piling on accounting and peak periods are also collapsing role allocation, the Chief Accountant or accounting manager may have no escape, day-to-day or during peaks.
A caution worth flagging: do not jump to “the Chief Accountant is underperforming.”
Of course, there are cases where the Chief Accountant or accounting manager has skill gaps. But in practice, what looks like an individual issue is often a structural one — the scope is too wide, responsibilities are blurred, staffing does not match the work, headquarters demands are heavy.
Accounting team strain is an HR matter and a management matter at the same time. Left alone, it does not stay confined to slow monthly reporting. It returns as tax risk, disrupted audit response, slow cash management, and eventually the Chief Accountant’s resignation.
Three Documents to Look at First
Reviewing the state of the accounting team does not have to start with a big project.
The following three documents are often enough as a first step.
- The monthly close completion date for the last twelve months
Lay out which business day each month’s close was completed on. The point is not a single bad month but whether the delays are chronic.
- A list of adjusting entries and audit findings
Look not only at the count of adjusting entries but also at whether the same types recur. Areas to watch include revenue, inventory, accruals, tax items, foreign exchange, and fixed assets.
- A scope-of-work table by accounting team member
Lay out who does what, who checks it, and who makes the final call. Putting this on a single page usually reveals very quickly whether work and judgment are concentrated on a small number of people.
After working through these three, it is more realistic to consider “should we add headcount?” “should we redesign role allocation?” “should we engage external support?” “should we revisit the headquarters reporting approach?”
Just because symptoms are appearing does not mean hiring will resolve them. Bringing in new staff while the flow of work is unorganized can simply expand the Chief Accountant’s coaching burden.
Before turning to recruitment agencies, headhunters, or job platforms, it is important to first understand where, inside your own company, the accounting work is actually getting stuck.
Closing Thoughts
Whether an accounting team is running or not can, in fact, be observed from outside to a meaningful degree.
The monthly close is gradually slipping. The same adjustments keep recurring. Internal questions are piling on accounting. New hires are not growing, and the Chief Accountant’s load is not lightening. Peak periods see role allocation fall apart.
These are not small isolated problems. They may be signals that the accounting team’s structure is under strain.
What matters for managers is not to start looking for the cause once a problem becomes large, but to notice when the symptoms are showing.
Accounting team strain is rarely just about the Chief Accountant or the staff. It tends to arise where headquarters demands, local tax practice, staffing, and internal role allocation all overlap.
Start by organizing the observable facts. Then look at where load and risk are concentrated.
That, in our view, is the first step in reviewing the accounting setup at a foreign-invested subsidiary in Vietnam.
FAQ
Q1. If these symptoms are present, should we go directly to accounting and confront them?
No — pressing directly tends not to work well.
The accounting team is usually already aware of the busyness and the issues. When a manager opens with strong questioning, the response tends to become defensive, and the real picture is harder to see.
It works better to open the conversation as “let’s organize the current state together,” starting from observable facts — close dates, adjustments, the scope-of-work table.
Q2. When several symptoms are present, where should we start?
Setting out with “let’s shorten the close” or “let’s cut adjustments” as the initial goal often makes the discussion too broad to move forward.
A more practical starting point is to organize the inquiries flowing into accounting, and to make visible who handles what during peak periods.
Once the flow of work becomes visible, it is much easier to separate whether the issue is staffing, role allocation, or the check process.
Q3. Will replacing the Chief Accountant solve the problem?
Sometimes. But often it does not, on its own.
When work is concentrated on the Chief Accountant, inquiries from other functions are excessive, the reconciliation load between headquarters reporting and local tax is heavy, and there is no system for staff development, simply swapping the Chief Accountant tends to produce the same exhaustion in their successor.
Before evaluating the Chief Accountant, it is important to understand the structure they are operating inside.
Q4. How should we decide whether to add more accounting staff?
The starting point is to understand where, in the current workflow, things are actually getting stuck.
If the bottleneck is sheer processing volume, adding staff can help. But if judgment and review work are concentrated on the Chief Accountant, adding junior staff often does not reduce their load much.
Before starting a hiring process, organizing the scope-of-work table, the check flow, and the monthly close schedule helps clarify what kind of profile is actually needed.
