Consolidated Document No. 19/VBHN-NHNN: Chart of Accounts for Credit Institutions
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Based on:19/VBHN-NHNN - Government Official Gazette
This explanation was generated by AI and checked by an automated AI review, not by a human expert. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice and may contain errors. Check the official document before you rely on it.
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Consolidated Document No. 19/VBHN-NHNN, merging the original Decision No. 479/2004/QD-NHNN (which established the Chart of Accounts for Credit Institutions) with six rounds of amendments issued over more than two decades, the most recent being Circular No. 70/2025/TT-NHNN, effective from January 1, 2026. This is a technical document that sets out the mandatory account-coding system that credit institutions and foreign bank branches must use for their bookkeeping. The chart of accounts is organized into 9 categories: 8 categories of on-balance-sheet accounts (now called the 'Statement of Financial Position,' renamed from 'Balance Sheet' in 2022) and 1 category of off-balance-sheet accounts (category 9, covering commitments, guarantees, and written-off debts still under monitoring). Each account is coded at Level I (2 digits), Level II (3 digits), and Level III (4 digits); institutions with sufficient IT capability may apply to the SBV to open additional Level IV/V sub-accounts. The document also sets rules for accounting in foreign currency and gold (gold is treated as a foreign currency, measured in 'chi' units of 99.99%-purity gold), along with the exchange rates to use when converting balances into Vietnamese dong. The newest change, from Circular 70/2025/TT-NHNN, adds a fallback principle: for economic transactions not specifically addressed by this Decision or SBV guidance, credit institutions must apply the Accounting Law, Vietnamese Accounting Standards, and general enterprise accounting rules. Because this is an internal accounting standard specific to banks and credit institutions, typical SMEs are not directly affected, but the finance and accounting departments of credit institutions and foreign bank branches should review and update their bookkeeping systems to reflect this consolidated text.
Background
Consolidated Document No. 19/VBHN-NHNN, issued by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), merges the original Decision No. 479/2004/QD-NHNN dated April 29, 2004 (which established the Chart of Accounts for Credit Institutions) with six rounds of amendments issued continuously from 2004 through 2025:
- Decision 1146/2004/QD-NHNN (effective October 4, 2004)
- Circular 10/2014/TT-NHNN (effective June 1, 2014)
- Circular 49/2014/TT-NHNN (effective February 15, 2015)
- Circular 22/2017/TT-NHNN (effective April 1, 2018)
- Circular 27/2021/TT-NHNN (effective April 1, 2022)
- Circular 70/2025/TT-NHNN (effective January 1, 2026)
A consolidated document (VBHN) is not new legislation; it is an official merge of all amendments into one text, so readers can look up the current rule without cross-referencing multiple separate instruments.
Structure of the chart of accounts
The chart of accounts applies to credit institutions and foreign bank branches, and is organized into 9 account categories:
- Categories 1 through 8: accounts within the Statement of Financial Position (the term that replaced 'Balance Sheet' under Circular 27/2021/TT-NHNN).
- Category 9: off-balance-sheet accounts, covering guarantee commitments, irrevocable loan commitments, forward foreign-currency/gold commitments, accrued interest not yet collected, written-off debts still under monitoring, and debt trading operations.
Account codes follow a multi-level decimal system:
- Level I accounts: 2 digits (10 to 99), a maximum of 10 Level I accounts per category.
- Level II accounts: 3 digits.
- Level III accounts: 4 digits.
Credit institutions with sufficient IT capacity may request SBV approval to use Level II accounts directly or to open additional Level III, IV, or V sub-accounts tailored to their own management needs; institutions without that capacity must use the standard Level III accounts. Before implementation, credit institutions (except grassroots People's Credit Funds) must report their account systems to the SBV's Department of Finance and Accounting.
Accounting for foreign currency and gold
The document sets specific accounting rules for foreign-currency and gold transactions:
- Gold is treated as a foreign currency, measured in 'chi' units of 99.99%-purity gold, and recorded through accounts 4711 and 4712 in the same way as foreign-currency trading.
- Foreign-currency/gold purchase and sale transactions use the actual buy/sell rate at the time the transaction occurs.
- Other transactions converted into Vietnamese dong use the average spot buy/sell transfer rate (for institutions licensed to trade foreign exchange) or the spot rate of the commercial bank the institution trades with most (for institutions not licensed to trade foreign exchange).
- At month-, quarter-, and year-end, credit institutions must convert foreign-currency balances and turnover into Vietnamese dong when preparing the account balance sheet.
The newest change: Circular 70/2025/TT-NHNN
Circular 70/2025/TT-NHNN, effective from January 1, 2026, adds a new point 6.3 to the General Provisions: for economic transactions not addressed by this Decision or by SBV guidance, credit institutions must record them based on the nature of the transaction, applying the Accounting Law, its guiding documents, Vietnamese Accounting Standards, and the general accounting rules applicable to enterprises. This is essentially a gap-filling mechanism that lets the chart of accounts (originally built in 2004) keep pace with modern banking operations not specifically listed in the system.
The legal basis cited for Circular 70/2025/TT-NHNN also reflects the newer legal framework: the Law on Credit Institutions No. 32/2024/QH15 (as amended by Law No. 96/2025/QH15), the Accounting Law No. 88/2015/QH13 (as amended by Law No. 56/2024/QH15), and the Law on Electronic Transactions No. 20/2023/QH15.
Who must comply
This chart of accounts is mandatory for credit institutions and foreign bank branches operating under the Law on Credit Institutions. Ordinary SMEs (that are not credit institutions themselves) do not directly apply this account system, but the content may be useful for SMEs operating in the financial sector, finance companies, or foreign investors setting up a bank branch in Vietnam.