Building a Strong “Common Home” for the Nghe An SME Community to Contribute More to the Homeland and the Country

DNHN - Dr To Hoai Nam - Permanent Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of SMEs showed aspiration when giving a speech at the conference to review the activities in 2023 and deploy the tasks for 2024 of the Nghe An SME Association.

Attending and delivering a speech at the above-mentioned conference, Dr To Hoai Nam - Permanent Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) affirmed: First of all, I acknowledge, commend and highly appreciate the achievements of the Nghe An SME Association in the past time. Through the Summary Report, I can see that the activities of the Nghe An SME Association are very systematic and highly strategic. At the same time, the Association has also planned very specific, clear, and detailed orientations to implement the Association’s Action Plan in 2024 in all aspects. Therefore, I believe that in the coming time, based on the achieved results, the Nghe An SME Association will excellently fulfil its tasks so that its operation strategy will be successful in 3 aspects: Self-reliance; linking and cooperating with all domestic and international partners Associations; playing the role of a bridge between the government and enterprises, between enterprises and enterprises. The success in these 3 aspects of the Association will create a resonant force for a strong “common home” for the business community and entrepreneurs to “rely on” each other for sustainable development. Thereby, contributing more to the homeland, the country in general, and Nghe An province in particular.

“As you know, on October 10, 2023, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 41 on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese business community in the new period. This Resolution is an extremely valuable gift that the Party and the State give to the business community on the occasion of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Day on October 13. Resolution 41 clearly states” promoting the role of organisations representing the business community and enterprises”. This is a very important and practical group of tasks, orienting the Association to more clearly define its position, role, and direction of operation in the coming time. To promote that role, the Association must know how to organise and more importantly, it must build its philosophy, vision, and mission in carrying out its tasks, always adhering to the motto: “Practical - Effective - Innovative - Creative” to accompany and resonate with entrepreneurs and enterprises. In addition, the Association must demonstrate that it is a useful “common home” for the business community; a place where entrepreneurs come to learn, exchange experiences, and share secrets to stand firm and develop together. To do that, the Association must always: Innovate the content, and methods, and improve the quality and effectiveness of its activities following its objectives, purposes, and regulations; take the lead in approaching mechanisms, policies, and laws related to enterprises and entrepreneurs; play a core role in propaganda, mobilisation, raising awareness, and responsibility of the business community; listen to, gather, reflect, and coordinate to solve the aspirations and desires of entrepreneurs and enterprises; actively participate in building, commenting, and supervising the implementation of policies, laws, and regulations, and strengthen effective coordination with relevant agencies to promote the improvement of the investment and business environment; participate in training and fostering entrepreneurs, promoting start-ups, gathering, linking, cooperating, and supporting entrepreneurs and enterprises for sustainable development; strengthening the linkage between member enterprises; representing the legitimate rights and interests of member entrepreneurs and enterprises; building, mobilising, promoting, and encouraging entrepreneurs to practice ethical standards and business culture; honoring outstanding entrepreneurs and enterprises; focusing on implementing the admission of new members to increase intellectual and economic strength, contributing to the strong development of the Association; connecting and organising training courses and classes to support enterprises in developing production and business, building brands, and integrating deeply… In short, the Association must truly be a useful bridge between Party committees, authorities, functional agencies, and enterprises and entrepreneurs; between enterprises and enterprises” - Dr To Hoai Nam emphasised.

Regarding the business community, Dr To Hoai Nam expects: Resolution 41 to create new momentum for enterprises to develop, but the business community itself also needs to strive to fulfill its responsibilities. In addition to production and business, the business community needs to agree on basic moral and cultural values and principles in business. Those principles need to be disseminated, spread, and practised in the business community and enterprises following the goals and tasks set out in Resolution No. 41. Taking business ethics and culture as the core, promoting the spirit of respect for the law; enhancing the role of entrepreneurs in contributing to economic diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy, promoting the image of the homeland, the country, the people, and the culture of Vietnam. At the same time, the business community needs to focus on further promoting the spirit of business, legitimate enrichment, dynamism, creativity… and responsibility to society and the environment, always putting the interests of enterprises in a harmonious relationship with the common interests of the nation, the economy, and society. Strengthening solidarity, linkage, and creating value chains on the spirit of mutual support with the motto “harmonious interests, shared risks”. A successful entrepreneur is recognised not only for being good at his/her own business but also for supporting colleagues and contributing to building the business community in particular and the economy in general. The business community also needs to equip themselves with thorough knowledge of international integration and the market and improve their capacity to update and grasp new knowledge, especially knowledge related to the digital economy as well as types, models of the economy, and breakthrough technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Moreover, to develop strongly and sustainably, the business community needs to strongly promote the spirit of patriotism and national pride; high determination and a burning desire to reach out to the international market for an independent Vietnam with prosperous and strong development. To do that, first of all, the business community and entrepreneurs need to build their “common home” strong enough so that members can “rely on” each other on the journey of building and developing sustainable production and business activities, spreading their brands.

More notably, before the summary conference, the Vietnam SME Association coordinated with the Nghe An SME Association to organise the training program “International Financial Reporting Standards and Digital Transformation”. This training program was chaired by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). In his opening speech at the training program, Mr. To Quoc Hung - ACCA Vietnam Country Director said: Established in 1904, after more than 119 years, ACCA is the largest international professional association in the field of accounting, auditing, finance, and management, with the fastest growth rate worldwide with nearly 526,000 students and 247,000 members in 181 countries. It is a professional association that was first present in Vietnam. On the journey of more than 20 years of ACCA’s presence in Vietnam, ACCA has always accompanied important events of the accounting, auditing, and finance profession in Vietnam such as contributing to the drafting of the Law on Accounting, the Law on Independent Auditing, the Development Strategy of the Accounting and Auditing Sector to 2030 - Ministry of Finance, and the efforts throughout the process of supporting the building and issuing of the roadmap for applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It can be said that after more than 20 years of presence in Vietnam, ACCA has trained and contributed nearly 10,000 accounting, auditing, finance, and management experts to the market. As a global professional organisation for accounting, auditing, and financial management, we are committed to accompanying enterprises in the process of development and innovation”.

“In the context of the rapidly changing macroeconomic situation and business conditions, the private enterprise sector plays an important role in promoting economic growth and driving innovation. However, the complex financial and macroeconomic environment can pose significant challenges to businesses today. Recognising this, ACCA has designed a basic support program to equip businesses with the knowledge and direction to develop and compete more effectively in an increasingly internationally integrated market. On that basis, in July 2023, the Vietnam SME Association co-signed a cooperation agreement with ACCA to provide training and support activities, which are diversified and specially designed with the expectation of improving and enhancing access to capital sources and the international competitiveness of enterprises. Today, with the consensus of the Executive Board of the Nghe An SME Association, ACCA is honoured to accompany the training program on International Financial Reporting Standards and Digital Transformation. Today’s training session will kick off a series of ACCA’s business support activities, aiming to improve knowledge and understanding of the application of new technologies in finance and management to enhance the capacity of enterprises. Thereby supporting decision-making to apply technology appropriately and wisely” - Mr To Quoc Hung clarified the objective of the training program.

Attending the training program, delegates, enterprises, and entrepreneurs were provided with knowledge on the “Application of technology in financial management and accounting” by Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy - ACCA lecturer at AUDITCARE Vietnam Training Centre (ACV), Chief Accountant of IBM Vietnam. Next, Ms Nguyen Phuong Thao - ACCA lecturer at AUDITCARE Vietnam Training Centre, Deputy General Director of UHY Auditing and Consulting Services Company, delivered knowledge on “IFRS - roadmap and application in enterprises to improve access to capital”. Before the training program concluded, delegates, enterprises, and entrepreneurs witnessed the Awarding Ceremony for representatives of enterprises participating in the workshop.

It is known that at the end of 2023, the Nghe An SME Association made contributions to the common development cause of the province and continued to achieve many remarkable results. On that basis, the Nghe An SME Association has planned the plan, orientation, and tasks for the Association’s activities in 2024.

Van Cuong - Hoang Lan