Career Advice Detail Asean

Accounting, Banking and Finance

Overview

Accounting
Since 2007, Vietnam became a member of World Trade Organization. In line with the economic renovation and the efforts towards world economic integration, accounting received greater prominence. Besides, the development of a more market-oriented economy with the diversification of business operation, the need for independent audit has become increasingly important to assure the transparent and reliable of financial information. The accounting and auditing legal frameworks have continued to be improved for closer alignment to international standards.

Finance and Banking
From a mono-banking system, Vietnam’s banking industry has grown tremendously to become a crowded network of financial institutions. Currently, there are five state-owned commercial banks, 34 joint-stock commercial banks, 4 joint-venture banks, 5 100% foreign owned banks, 100 foreign bank branches and representative office, 18 finance companies, 12 financial lease companies, and almost 1,100 cooperative credit funds (VPBS, 2014).

Vietnam’s banking sector has demonstrated impressive growth for both deposit and credit with the average growth rate of 28.87% for deposit and 28.28% for credit during the period 2000 to 2012. The pace has declined in the recent years with credit growth being only 6.87% for the first three quarters of 2013, much slower than deposit growth (10.5%) due to economic downturn. However, financial sector can be consider a driving force for the economy and with great effort of the State Bank of Vietnam to reform the system, the industry is expected to develop more sustainably in the future.

Source:
Vietnam banking industry report by VPBank Securities (VPBS), 2014
Asian Development Bank: Vietnam financial sector assessment, strategy and roadmap: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/42848/files/viet-nam-financial-sector-assessment-strategy-and-road-map.pdf
 

Career opportunities

Accounting
Accountants may be employed in all areas of business such as manufacturing companies, local authorities, charities, insurance companies, etc… Accounting activities were mainly focused on recording and reporting information for statistical and tax collection purpose. Experienced professional in the industry might take on supervisor responsibility and more complex task including planning and budget control, auditing or provide related consultancy services such as advising on budget, taxation issues and compliance to legistration. Many accountant also use their qualification to move into general management or set up their own business.

Finance and Banking
Finance and Banking industry provides graduates with various career opportunities with satisfactory income. The sector can be broken down into following major areas:

• Commercial Banking: Career options available in this sector include bank tellers, loan officers, operations, marketing and branch managers. Talented professionals can advance from a local branch job to a position in corporate headquarters.
• Corporate Finance: covers a wide range of financial services with the aim to help its clients form and develop sound financial strategies to meet their goals by serving as advisors and by raising or managing funds.
• Hedge Fund: is a private investment fund that trades and invests in various assets, such as securities, commodities, currency, and derivatives on behalf of its clients.
• Asset Management: manage the money of their clients to achieve specific financial objectives. Graduates working within asset management firms can work as portfolio managers, buy-side and sell-side research analysts, and quantitative analysts.
• Sales and Trading - responsibility is for maintaining positive client relationships, sale of existing securities in the firm’s inventory and the distribution of the firm’s initial public offering. Traders execute trades in equities, corporate and municipal bonds, derivatives, currencies, and commodities.
• Financial Planning: review a client′s financial goals and generate an appropriate plan for saving and investing that fits the client′s individual needs.

Source: http://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc-khuyen-hoc/nganh-tai-chinh-ngan-hang-nganh-hoc-khong-lo-that-nghiep-841246.htm

http://dantri.com.vn/tin-tuyen-sinh/co-hoi-nghe-nghiep-van-rong-mo-cho-nganh-tai-chinh-ngan-hang-850027.htm
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-careers/08/financial-career-options-professionals.asp

Key employers

Professional companies: offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate finance, and legal services.
Deloitte - Website: http://www2.deloitte.com/vn/en.html
PwC - Website: http://www.pwc.com/vn/en/
EY - Website: http://www.ey.com/VN/en/Home/EY-Vietnam
KPMG - Website: http://www.kpmg.com/vn/en/pages/default.aspx
Grant Thornton - Website: http://www.gt.com.vn/vn/
McKinsey - Website: http://www.mckinsey.com/global_locations/asia/hanoi/en

Banks
State Bank of Vietnam - Website:  http://www.sbv.gov.vn

State-owned banks
Vietcombank - Website:  http://www.vietcombank.com.vn
BIDV - Website:  http://www.bidv.com.vn
Vietinbank – Website: http://www.vietinbank.vn/
Agribank – Website: http://agribank.com.vn/default.aspx
Mekong Housing Bank – Website: http://www.mhb.com.vn/en/

Foreign-owned banks
HSBC – Website:  http://www.hsbc.com.vn
ANZ –  Website:   http://www.anz.com/vietnam
Standard Chartered - Website:  http://www.standardchartered.com/vn

Other
Techcombank – Website:  https://www.techcombank.com.vn/trang-chu
Ocean bank – Website:  http://oceanbank.vn/
Eximbank – Website:  http://www.eximbank.com.vn/home/
MB – Website:  https://www.mbbank.com.vn/Pages/Default.aspx

Useful websites

Following are some forums and websites that would be useful for people who are working in or would like to work in the industry of Accounting, Finance and Banking

• http://www.webketoan.vn/ - Where you can update news and regulations on Accounting, Taxation, Corporate Finance and relevant skills. Its forum provides chances for professional discussion and experience sharing among members.
• http://www.vnbroker.com/ - Allow users to discuss about securities market and share knowledge and experience in the field.
• Other informative website providing latest news and analyses about the economy and financial market in particular
  http://cafef.vn/
  http://cafebiz.vn/
  http://cafeland.vn/

Advice

Competition to enter both profession is tough with rigorous selection process. Specifically, a career in Finance and Banking normally requires a solid background in business-related subjects including accounting , business finance, money and financial markets, statistics, and economics. Demonstrable experience that includes economic analysis and an understanding of economic markets and financial trends is also valued by employers. A summer internship at a bank or relevant departments at a company can provide valuable experience that may help students enter the financial services industry.

Following are several well-known professional bodies should be taken into consideration which offer their members the opportunity to obtain professional qualifications and are widely recognized by professions all over the world:

• The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) - http://www.cimaglobal.com allows you to run the accounts of a business or be a finance director, but you are not certified to sign off audited accounts of another businesses,
• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) - http://www.accaglobal.com/vn/en.html allows you sign off audited accounts of another business, but you are not necessarily trained to be a company accountant or finance director, although often this does happen.
• Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI)  - http://www.cisi.org  providing a range of qualifications for those who are already working, or would like to work in, the financial services industry, including Wealth/Retail, Compliance/Risk, Operations and Capital Markets.
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) - https://www.cfainstitute.org/Pages/index.aspx  providing a strong foundation of advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio management skills.

Source: http://whatqualifications.co.uk/WhatQualifications/Accountant
https://sipa.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/Career%20Op%20Banking%20and%20Finance.pdf