Accounting book review service
Introduction to accounting book review service
Accounting audit is the assessment and review of accounting books, documents and financial reports to ensure the accuracy and transparency of accounting information. Unlike independent audits, audits are often advisory in nature, helping businesses detect errors and complete records before making official reports.
Quick distinction: auditing focuses on giving independent opinions on financial statements according to standards; while bookkeeping review service is a detailed examination of documents, entries, and balance reconciliation to help the business’s accountant make timely corrections before issuing reports or submitting them to the tax authorities.
Benefits of businesses using periodic review services: ensuring the company’s accounting books are always updated, reducing the risk of income tax arrears, increasing the reliability of financial reports with investors and banks – especially useful for businesses preparing for M&A or income tax settlement.
When does a business need to review its accounting books?
Are you preparing for the year-end settlement?
Before the tax settlement period, especially income tax settlement and corporate income tax settlement, businesses should review their accounting books to ensure that all records and documents are complete, that all entries are correctly accounted for, and to reduce the risk of tax arrears.
Change of accounting personnel, chief accountant
When there is a change in chief accountant or transfer of accounting work, review helps to transfer the company's accounting books coherently, avoid loss of information and ensure continuity in financial management.
Preparing for large transactions (M&A), fundraising or bank loans
Investors and banks often require reliable financial reports; pre-auditing helps businesses complete reports, increase the ability to negotiate and evaluate faster.
To assess compliance and financial transparency
If management needs to check compliance with legal regulations, accounting standards and transparency in books, the review helps to detect problems and propose timely remedies.
Short checklist — when to review (suggestions):
- Before income tax settlement: compare invoices, complete deduction records, check valid expenses.
- When changing accounting personnel: review backlog, hand over documents, confirm balances.
- Before M&A/fundraising/borrowing: check financial statements, receivables/payables, inventories, fixed assets.
- Periodically (recommended): quarterly or at least before preparing annual financial statements.
Suggestion:
Businesses can use hourly or package review services, depending on the size of their books and needs — choosing the right type of service helps save costs and ensures results meet the requirements of tax authorities and partners.
Objectives and benefits of audit services
- Ensure accurate and transparent data: auditing helps to review all accounting books of the enterprise, check the origin of documents and confirm that the accounting entries correctly reflect the arising transactions.
- Detect and correct errors promptly: reviewing documents, comparing account balances and checking journal entries helps detect accounting errors, duplicate documents or missing records - thereby proposing appropriate handling methods.
- Minimize legal risks in accounting and tax: auditing helps businesses standardize accounting records and documents, avoiding administrative penalties or tax collection due to errors in the books.
- Increase the reliability of financial reports: when accounting books are reviewed and adjusted, financial reports when preparing financial statements or reports for investors will be more convincing, more convenient in M&A transactions, capital raising or bank loans.
Job content in auditing accounting books
- Check documents, invoices, contracts: compare documents with books, check the legality and validity of invoices and economic contracts related to arising transactions.
- Reconcile accounts receivable, inventory, fixed assets: review detailed books, statements, warehouse receipts, fixed asset inventory records to ensure the balance on the books matches reality.
- Review accounting entries and account balances: check the reasonableness of cost allocation, revenue/expense classification, and correctness of account balances before preparing reports.
- Assess compliance with accounting standards and tax laws: review the level of compliance with current regulations, note non-compliance points and propose corrective measures.
- Prepare audit report and recommend adjustments: draft a detailed report stating the findings, the level of impact on the financial statements and specific recommendations for the company's accountant to make adjustments.
Sample Checklist — Review Work Summary
| Job Description | Required documents | Person in charge | Status |
Check documents | Invoices, contracts, receipts/payment vouchers | Accountant | Not yet/Have been/Have been edited |
Reconciliation of debts | Detailed book, reconciliation minutes | Accounts receivable accounting | Not/Have/Have been checked |
Inventory & Fixed Assets | Import and export vouchers, inventory records | Warehouse/Fixed Asset Accounting | Not yet/already/other |
Prepare audit report | Report results, list of errors | Review unit | Completed/Waiting |
Practical example:
a manufacturing enterprise discovered that the cost of purchasing materials was incorrectly recorded in the account, leading to a decrease in production costs; after reviewing and adjusting the accounting entries, the result was that the profit and income tax were recalculated correctly according to regulations, avoiding future collection.
he role of internal accounting in enterprises
- Internal accounting is the main contact point for providing documents, books and necessary information for the audit unit; archiving records and providing detailed reports helps shorten the audit time and improve the quality of results.
- Close coordination with the service unit: the enterprise's accountant needs to promptly respond to the review unit's reconciliation requests, provide copies of accounting documents and perform reconciliation as required to ensure the consistency of the books.
- Make recommended adjustments: after the review unit submits the review report and list of errors, the internal accountant is responsible for adjusting the books, updating records and supporting the preparation of financial statements according to the correct procedures.
Audit service implementation process
Step 1
Receiving requests & documents
The review unit receives initial information, requests a list of documents (invoices, contracts, accounting books) and makes a preliminary assessment of the scope of work.
Step 2
Preliminary analysis & review planning
Identify critical, high-risk operations and sampling scope; develop detailed plans, timing and responsible persons from the business side.
Step 3
Conduct detailed review
check accounting documents, compare documents with books, review debts, inventory, fixed assets; conduct sampling according to procedures and record in minutes and lists.
Step 4
Report results & recommendations
Draft a review report outlining findings, assessing the impact on the financial statements and recommending specific adjustments; attach a list of documents that need to be supplemented or revised.
Step 5
Support businesses in editing data
The service provider provides guidance on accounting methods, provides reporting forms, and coordinates with the business's accountant to update books and prepare documents to submit to the authorities when needed.sơ nộp cho cơ quan khi cần.
Process & Estimated Timeline (Sample)
Steps | Time | Result |
Receiving documents | 1–2 days | List of documents required |
Analysis & Planning | 2–4 days | Review plan, sampling scope |
Detailed review | 5–15 days (depending on scale) | Inspection report, error table |
Prepare audit report | 2–5 days | Review report & recommendations |
Editing support | depending on the scope | Books adjusted, records complete |
Note:
For the process to run smoothly, the company's accountant (chief accountant, tax accountant, warehouse accountant) needs to prepare the required documents and coordinate promptly — this helps shorten the review time, reduce costs and ensure the results meet the requirements of the management agency and partners.
Risks if the business does not conduct an audit
- Inaccurate and opaque books: without regular review, accounting books can easily accumulate accounting errors, missing or duplicate entries, leading to financial information not accurately reflecting the business's operating situation.
- Risk of administrative sanctions in accounting and tax: errors in books can lead to sanctions, income tax arrears or fines due to failure to keep complete accounting books according to regulations of the management agency.
- Loss of credibility with investors and partners: inaccurate financial reports make investors, banks and partners doubt transparency, reducing opportunities to raise capital or sign strategic contracts.
- Difficulty in borrowing capital or calling for investment: banks and investors often require clear documents and reports; if the books are not reviewed, the appraisal procedure will be prolonged or rejected.
Common administrative penalties
- Penalties for not keeping or not keeping complete accounting books: Enterprises may be subject to administrative penalties if they do not keep books and documents as prescribed.
- Penalties for incorrect accounting: accounting that does not comply with standards or tax laws leads to being handled and required to adjust data.
- Penalties for failure to store and preserve accounting documents: loss or failure to store original documents can lead to fines and difficulties when working with tax authorities.
- Consequences: fines, tax arrears, impact on business reputation and costs of recovering records and adjusting financial statements.
Commitment of service provider
- A team of experienced experts in accounting - tax - auditing, knowledgeable about the operations of diverse businesses (including FDI).
- Financial information security: commit to implementing security measures, signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) when necessary to protect customer data.
- Consulting on optimal solutions and legal compliance: supporting businesses in completing documents in accordance with regulations, accompanying when working with competent authorities.
Accounting book review service fee
- Influencing factors: business size, number of documents, complexity of transactions and time required will determine service costs.
- Transparent quotation policy: service providers should provide detailed quotations for each item (preliminary analysis, detailed review, editing support).
- Compare the benefits versus the costs: investing in a review service often saves on legal fees, avoids tax arrears, and protects your business reputation — the long-term benefits often outweigh the initial costs.
Reference Table — Factors Affecting Costs (Examples)
Element | Impact on costs |
Business size | The larger the size, the higher the cost due to the larger volume of documents. |
Number of documents | Direct impact on review time |
Complex business | Diverse operations (import-export, processing, FDI) require experts, increasing costs |
Time required | Rush requests may incur expedited processing fees. |
Contact us to receive a free quote and consultation
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Book review is a service of checking and consulting nature, helping to detect errors and complete documents before preparing financial reports or submitting them to agencies; auditing (independent auditing) is a service that provides professional opinions on financial reports according to standards and is usually performed by a competent auditing organization. Reviewing helps the enterprise’s accountants make timely adjustments, reducing risks when being audited or working with agencies.
Depending on the scale and business risks: large enterprises or those with import-export and FDI activities should review quarterly; small and medium enterprises can review before preparing annual financial statements or before the income tax settlement period. At least there should be periodic checks to keep accounting books up to date.
Currently, Vietnamese law requires businesses to establish and maintain accounting books in accordance with regulations; hiring a review service is not always a mandatory requirement, but is a practical measure to help businesses ensure compliance. Some transactions (e.g., M&A, loans) may require reviewed or audited reports depending on the requirements of the partner or the appraisal agency.
Small businesses should still conduct periodic or partial reviews (e.g., cost and receivables audits) when problems arise or before tax settlement; the cost of the service can be scaled based on size — this helps avoid legal risks and saves money in the long run.
The audit team will provide a detailed report and a list of documents that need to be corrected; the company’s accountants need to make adjustments to the books, prepare minutes, supplement documents according to instructions and, if necessary, coordinate with the management agency to explain. In many cases, timely corrections help avoid tax arrears or reduce penalties.
By detecting invalid expenses, missing or mis-recorded invoices, audits help make adjustments to take advantage of allowable deductions and avoid underpayments/overpayments — thereby reducing the risk of income tax and costs arising from later processing.
Choose a company with an experienced accounting, tax, and auditing team that understands Vietnamese law and industry practices; ask to see sample audit reports, privacy policies, and references from previous clients — this will help businesses feel secure when handing over documents and coordinating with authorities when needed.
Conclusion & Advice:
Accounting book review is an important preventive step to ensure that the company's accounting books are always transparent and in compliance with regulations; if you are having an M&A project, preparing income tax settlement or changing accounting personnel, consider using the review service to reduce risks and standardize records. Contact the provider to receive a sample checklist and a reference quote.