Independence is a factor which has a significant impact on auditing quality, especially in the recent times where the marketplace is increasingly demanding transparency. The independence of auditors is assessed based on the main criteria such as the reliability of the audit opinions, the accuracy, truthfulness of financial reports, and the objectivity in the opinions of the auditor. The study investigates the effects of non-audit services (NAS) on auditor independence in emerging economies such as Vietnam. Non-audit services include taxation services, management advisory services and outsourcing internal audit services. Based on previously relevant researches, the authors develop hypotheses and a regression model about non-audit services (independent variables) and audit independence (dependent variable). The research collects data by 5-scale Likert questionnaire. The findings indicate the relationship between NAS and auditor independence. Specifically, the results reveal two main factors that have influence on auditor independence, namely, taxation services and management advisory services. The results of our research can be considered as new findings and can be compared to previous researches in Vietnam, which establishes a new viewpoint about the relationship between the NAS and the independence of the auditor. This result can be implemented for countries or jurisdictions which are similar to Vietnam.

Accounting policies are principles and practices by which an entity uses to recognize, measure and report economic transactions. Improper application of accounting policies can lead to misrepresentation of firms’ financial position and performance which consequently results in incorrect accounting information to the users. This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing the choices of accounting policies in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam by reviewing relevant literature to build a research model. The research model comprises of one dependent variable that is income-decreasing accounting procedures and six independent variables namely the firm size, financial leverage, incentives, auditor, accountants, and tax policies. After this, the authors collected primary data from more than 200 questionnaires sent to directors and chief accountants of the SMEs for the period 2018 to 2019. We then used Ordinary Least Squares regression method (OLS) to analyze the data. The results showed that four factors influenced selection of accounting policies in which auditors are associated with income-increasing accounting policies; and there are three factors associated with income-decreasing accounting policies which are, company size, tax and accountant. Especially, the research results indicate that company size has a significant influence on the selection of accounting policies in the SMEs. Based on the results, we propose instructive suggestions for regulators and lawmakers improve choices of accounting policies in the SMEs.

This study investigates the effect of capital structure on the financial performance of pharmaceutical enterprises which are listing on Vietnam’s stock market. The study builds the regression using ROE as dependent variable and four independent variables, including selffinancing, financial leverage, long-term asset and debt to assets ratios. In addition, we use other variables as controlling ones, such as firm size, fixed asset rate and growth. We collect data for the period from 2015 to 2019 of all 30 pharmaceutical enterprises which are currently listing on Vietnam’s stock market. The least square regression (OLS) is used to test the effect of capital structure to the firms’ financial performance. The analysis results show that the financial leverage ratio (LR), long-term asset ratio (LAR) and debt-to-assets ratio (DR) have positive relationship with firm performance, meanwhile the self-financing (E/C) affects negatively to the return on equity (ROE). Upon the findings we suggest that the Vietnamese government should focus on stabilizing macro environment to create favorable environment for enterprises. And the pharmaceutical enterprises should build more reasonable capital structure with higher debt proportion than equity, diversifying loan mobilization channels such as issuing long-term bonds. Additionally, the firms should expand the scale appropriately to maintain development and ability to pay debts.

The study evaluates the performance of public hospitals in Vietnam by applying the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The authors first review the literature to find the research gap of performance in public hospitals. Then, we built Likert questionnaires to collect data from more than 200 managers of public hospitals in the Northwestern provinces of Vietnam. The research uses correlation regression to evaluate the performance based on the influence of factors in the BSC model, including Strategic planning, Internal process, Finance, Mission, Customer, and Employee learning and growth. The results show that the performance of public hospitals in the research sample is influenced by the factors in the BSC model in descending order based on the regression coefficient as follows: Internal process, Finance, Mission, Strategic planning, Customer, Employee learning and growth. Based on the quantitative research findings, we continue by conducting some deep interviews with specialty to propose intensive recommendations about how to implement Mission, Internal process, Financial policies, etc. to managers in public hospitals with an aim to improve the performance of public hospitals in the Northwestern mountainous region of Vietnam. The lessons could be applied for other public hospitals in Vietnam and other jurisdictions that have similar conditions.

This study investigates the nexus between the level of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures (CSRD) and Risk of Bankruptcy of companies that are listing in the Stock Exchanges of Vietnam. To investigate that relationship, this study collected secondary data from annual audited financial statements from 2014 to 2018 of listing companies. Applying two different regression models with two dependent variables and six independent and control variables, we find out that Vietnamese firms with higher level of CSRD performance can rapidly reduce their risk of bankruptcy. This phenomenon happens in the current year and in the coming years in all firms in the research sample. This result may be that the disclosures of social responsibility information can bring financial and non-financial benefits to the firms. In addition, the results also point out that there is a difference in risk of bankruptcy between the group of companies, which discloses and the one which does not disclose corporate social responsibility on their annual reports. This might be from the effects of various factors such as business size, financial leverage, market to book ratio, return on assets, cash flow from operations, etc. Our research results can be applied to other firms in Vietnam and in other similar jurisdictions.

The paper examines the influence of corporate governance (CG) and earning quality (EQ) on corporate value (FV) of Vietnamese enterprises. The study uses GLS regression and linear structure model using data collected from companies listing on the stock market in Vietnam during 2008- 2018, with a total of 2,937 observations. The research results indicate that EQ and CG represented by the Integrated Board of Directors and the Integrated Supervisory Board have a positive effect on FV directly and indirectly. The results show that the Integrated Board of Directors has a positive effect on EQ, whereas the Integrated Supervisory Board has a negative effect on EQ. Based on the research results, we suggest that companies need to strictly comply and implement GC, so to bring down the agency cost and consequently to increase performance. The companies also should establish the Board of Director of a proper size, with financial and accounting specialty, and including women board members. The government also needs to improve the management mechanism asking for firms to prepare and publish financial statements with reliable company information, which could be provided to users. These recommendations are a useful basis to help businesses improve FV via changes in the corporate governance factors in each enterprise.