IFRS vs VAS: what actually changes when you convert
Vietnam's IFRS roadmap has entered its mandatory phase. Beyond terminology, revenue timing, leases, fair value and impairment are where the statements really move.
Under Decision 345/QĐ-BTC (2020), Vietnam's IFRS roadmap ran a voluntary phase from 2022 to 2025 — open to state-owned parents, listed companies, large public companies and wholly foreign-owned enterprises — and moves to mandatory application for in-scope groups after 2025. The Ministry of Finance is also drafting the circular that will replace Circular 200 to align local bookkeeping with the roadmap. For FDI groups and companies preparing to raise capital, conversion is no longer a someday question.
Revenue and leases
IFRS 15 recognizes revenue when performance obligations are satisfied — for contracts with multiple deliverables, milestones or variable consideration, the timing can differ materially from VAS practice. IFRS 16 then puts most leases on the balance sheet as right-of-use assets and lease liabilities, where VAS still treats operating leases as off-balance expenses. Together these two standards usually drive the largest visible changes.
Fair value and impairment
IFRS leans on fair-value measurement in far more areas — financial instruments, investment property, business combinations — and requires systematic impairment testing that VAS has no real equivalent for. Both change not just the numbers, but the valuation work and evidence behind them.
More than an accounting exercise
A conversion touches the chart of accounts, closing calendar, data collection, systems and people. The teams that succeed run IFRS in parallel with the regular close for at least one full cycle before the first reported period.
We run conversions alongside your monthly close so the first IFRS period lands cleanly — and your team learns the differences on live data.
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Articles are prepared by Clarity Consulting's tax, accounting and corporate-advisory team, based on current Vietnamese regulations at the time of writing.