The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has recently enacted and issued the Measures for the Management of Accounting Personnel (the "Measures"), with effect from January 1, 2019.
The Measures provide that, to perform accounting work, accounting personnel shall satisfy requirements in four respects, including "having good professional ethics". Accounting personnel shall acquire accounting-related expertise, basically master basic accounting knowledge and business skills, be able to process basic accounting business independently, and demonstrate they possess professional abilities required for performing accounting work. Also, the Measures clearly state that, no entity may appoint or engage an individual who has been held criminally liable for a violation related to an accounting post he or she previously took up, to perform the accounting work. In addition, if an individual has been banned under an administrative punishment imposed for his or her violation of provisions of the Accounting Law, from performing any accounting work within a five-year period, no entity may appoint or engage such individual to perform accounting work, before the end of the said period of punishment. Moreover, the Measures note that, an entity shall establish accounting posts, in line with relevant laws and regulations and requirements for internal control systems and also in consideration of the needs of its accounting business, and clearly define duties and authority of accounting personnel.