Regulations on management of receivables and payable debts for cooperatives according to Vietnamese law

What do cooperatives’ receivables include? According to what regulations is the monitoring of advance accounting carried out? The article shares in detail the regulations surrounding the management of receivables and payables for cooperatives according to current legal regulations. 

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CSPL: Article 13, 14, 15, 16 Circular 83/2015/TT-BTC

1. Receivable debt management

– Receivable debts in cooperatives and cooperative unions include:

+ Receivables from members and member cooperatives: Is the value of products, goods and services sold and provided to members and member cooperatives, but have not been paid.

+ Receivables from customers: Is the value of products products and services that cooperatives and cooperative unions sell and provide to customers, but have not been paid.

+ Receivables in internal credit activities: Are internal loans in cooperatives and cooperative unions (both principal and interest).

+ Other receivables according to the provisions of law.

– Cooperatives and cooperative unions must Open a detailed tracking book for each debtor, debt content and each payment; Regularly classify debts (revolving debts, bad debts, irrecoverable debts), and urge debt collection. For debts receivable in kind, cooperatives and cooperative unions need to monitor both in kind and value to preserve capital when prices fluctuate.

For debts receivable from customers with regular transaction relationships, periodically check and compare the receivable amount, the collected amount, and the remaining amount and confirm the debt with the cooperative and cooperative union in writing.

– At the end of the annual accounting period, based on receivables determined to be bad debts, cooperatives and cooperative unions must make provisions for bad debts according to the provisions of Circular No. 228/2009/TT-BTC dated December 7, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance, Circular No. 89/2013/TT-BTC dated December 7, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance. June 28, 2013 amending and supplementing Circular No. 228/2009/TT-BTC dated December 7, 2009 and documents amending, supplementing and replacing (if any).

– Cooperatives and cooperative unions periodically or irregularly compare receivables in the following cases: When closing accounting books to prepare annual financial statements; When implementing decisions on division, separation, merger, consolidation, dissolution or bankruptcy; or as prescribed by law. Statistics on unrecoverable debts and overdue debts and clearly determine the causes and responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals and determine the level of material compensation according to regulations.

– For unrecoverable debts that cannot be recovered, cooperatives and unions of cooperatives are responsible for handling compensation of related individuals and groups, the remaining balance is handled in the following order of priority. following:

+ Offset by provision for bad debts.

+ Offset from financial reserve fund.

+ Accounting for production and business expenses during the year. In case the cooperative or cooperative union incurs a loss when accounting for business expenses, the loss can be carried forward to the next year according to the provisions of tax law.

Debts that cannot be recovered after being handled as above, the cooperative and cooperative union must still monitor on the off-balance sheet account and must organize urging and recovery. The recovered amount is accounted for in other income of cooperatives and cooperative unions.

2. Liabilities management

– Liabilities arising from borrowing or arising in the process of buying and selling materials, products, goods, and services must be classified according to debt objects and nature of debt, including: Payables to credit institutions, payables to sellers, payables to the State, payables to members, member cooperatives, employees and other payables and payables.

– Cooperatives and cooperative unions must open detailed and complete books of debts payable according to each creditor, loan content, loan term and each payment.

– Pay debts on time as committed. Regularly review, evaluate, and analyze debt repayment capacity, early detect difficult situations in debt payment to have timely solutions to avoid overdue debts arising. Debts that do not have to be paid or have no object to pay are accounted into income.

3. Management, monitoring of advances and advance payments

– Advances are amounts of money that cooperatives and unions of cooperatives advance to officials and members to perform approved tasks.

– Monitoring and accounting of advances is carried out according to the following regulations:

+ The recipient of the advance must be an officer or member of the cooperative, cooperative alliance.

+ The advance request must clearly state the full name, address (unit, department) and the amount of advance requested, reason for advance, purpose of using the advance, payment time, clearly stating the date of refund of the advance and must be signed and approved by a competent person according to the hierarchy in the charter and financial management regulations. The accountant prepares a payment slip with an advance request and sends it to the treasurer for disbursement.

+ The advance is paid immediately after completing the work. If the payment is late beyond the prescribed date written on the advance payment, the advancer and the accountant monitoring the advance must be responsible according to the financial and accounting management regulations of the cooperative and cooperative union.

+ The advance recipient must use the money according to the content written on the advance payment, pay on time and have all original documents. Recipients of advances who have not paid the previous advance will not be allowed to advance the next time.

+ Cooperatives and cooperative unions open detailed advance monitoring books for each subject, each advance and advance payment.

4. Managing payable taxes and financial obligations to the State

Cooperatives and cooperative unions fully implement tax laws. Cooperatives and cooperative unions keep track of the amount payable, the amount paid, and the amount remaining to be paid in detail for each tax and financial obligations to the State.

5. Manage payments with members and employees

– Payments to members and employees in cooperatives and unions of cooperatives include: Wages, interest, and other amounts that cooperatives and unions of cooperatives must pay.

– Cooperatives and unions of cooperatives must open detailed books to track each subject and each amount payable. For product payments, a detailed book must be opened to track the quantity, unit price and amount payable; At the same time, cooperatives and cooperative unions must open payment books with members to make financial disclosure and implement democratic regulations for members, and payments cannot be made through teams or groups.

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