The General Office of the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has recently issued the Circular on Fulfilling Matters concerning the Reform of "Separating Business Licenses from Operating Permits" and Optimizing Accounting Industry Access Services (the "Circular"), with effect from November 10, 2018.
The Circular contains provisions in five aspects. First, handling business online will be promoted. Second, the time frame needed for the examination and approval of applications filed for practicing licenses for accounting firms and branch offices thereof, will be shortened. Regions, where conditions permit, are encouraged and supported to compress the time frame set for the examination and approval to 15 working days. And an application submitted for the qualification for commissioned bookkeeping business will be examined and approved within 15 working days, quicker than the current 20 working days. Third, documents required in the examination and approval stage will be streamlined. The authority will no longer require an applicant to submit a photocopy of its business license, a photocopy of the written partnership agreement or the company's articles of association, and a photocopy of the certificate proving the ownership of or the right to use the place of business, when it is examining an application for a practicing license for an accounting firm or its branch office; instead, information involved in such photocopies will be reflected via the unified social credit code. Fourth, examination and approval procedures will be made public, so will the progress in business processing. Fifth, information sharing will be promoted, and in-process and ex-post regulation will be intensified.