Vietnam’s path to converging with international accounting standards
This research investigates Vietnam’s approach to converging with international accounting standards using a variety of de jure convergence scores between Vietnamese Accounting Standards (‘VAS’) and International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IAS/IFRS’), such as full convergence, partial convergence and non-convergence. Vietnam’s initial approach to converging with IAS/IFRS is one of selecting suitable IAS/IFRS issues to fully adopt, but there are few VAS issues modified from IAS/IFRS. The level of convergence between VAS and their equivalent IAS/IFRS is quite high at the beginning (84%), then drops significantly to 63% in 2013 due to non-response to subsequent amendments to IAS and new IFRS. If Vietnam is to effectively compete in the world’s capital markets then a resurgence of the convergence program is urgently needed. If the International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’) is to achieve its global convergence goals, then it should consider the implications of IAS/IFRS convergence specific to emerging markets.