KPMG Vietnam & Cambodia

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION POLICY

Version 3.0
1 December 2017

Table of Content:

1. POLICY STATEMENT ...................................................................................................... 2

2. POLICY SCOPE ............................................................................................................... 2
3. OWNERSHIP AND VERSION CONTROL ....................................................................... 2
4. PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AVAILABILITY ..................................................... 3
5. CONDITIONS OF ENROLLMENT .................................................................................... 4
6. STUDYING ADMINISTRATION........................................................................................ 5
7. BINDING SCHEME (PAYMENT DAY OR COMPLETION DAY)...................................... 8
8. REIMBURSEMENT .......................................................................................................... 9
9. OUTSTANDING PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION ACHIEVEMENT REWARDS ..... 11
10. APPENDIX – REIMBURSEMENT PROCEDURE .......................................................... 12
 Professional Qualification Policy

1. Policy Statement

KPMG Vietnam and Cambodia (the Firm or KPMG) maintains an outstanding firm-wide
commitment to a comprehensive learning and development program. Our strategy focuses most
on people and efficiency. This Professional Qualification Policy is a part of our commitment that
highlights the Firm’s recognition towards KPMG’s employees, their career development as well
as overall improvement of performance at the Firm.

2. Policy Scope

This policy applies to all current KPMG employees under the permanent and fixed – term labor
contract (at least 12 months), except interns and staff on international assignments and Legal
staff. Staff employed in Legal should refer to the Professional Qualifications for Legal.
This policy outlines the conditions, responsibilities, processes and procedures for professional
qualification at KPMG. It also includes procedures and guidelines on course registration eligibility,
binding commitment as well as reimbursement.
This policy is effective from 1 December 2017 and overrides any current related policies.

3. Ownership and Version Control

Policy Owner Paul Huynh – Head of PPC KPMG ASPAC, Head of

People – KPMG Vietnam and Cambodia

Prepared by Nguyen, Thi Hong Hoa

Document Classification Internal Use Only

Revision Status Approved

Revision Date Description Author

1.0 1 March 2015 Policy updated

2.0 30 Apr 2017 Policy revised Nguyen Chi Thanh – PPC

Manager

3.0 1 Dec 2017 Policy updated Ozog, Natasha

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 Professional Qualification Policy

4. Professional Qualifications availability

4.1 The Firm encourages its employees to engage in ongoing professional development, including earning
further professional qualifications that are relevant to their career with KPMG.
4.2 The available qualifications under the sponsorship of KPMG and its respective schedule are listed in
the table below. Advanced and unlisted courses under the KPMG professional qualification policy will
be considered based on the job specification and on special approval from the Managing Partner of
Function and Head of People.

Level Course Period from Jan to Jun Period from Jul to

Dec

CPA Vietnam (VACPA)

CPA (Cambodia) Upon the local authorities’ annual schedule
Vietnamese Tax Agent’s Certificate

ACCA 1 paper (June) 1 paper

(September)
1 paper
(December)
Basic

CPA Australia 1 papers 2 papers

ACA - ICAEW 1 paper 1 paper
(September)
1 paper
(December)
Others (CIA, CISA, PMP, VTCA, etc.) Available upon the approval and certifications’
schedule

CIMA 1 subject 1 subject

CFA N/A 1 level

Advanced

MBA, Masters (including distance Follow normal training schedule

study and Classroom study)

Employees wanting to enroll in more than three papers per year are required to bear the cost on their
own and can request a reimbursement of the fees after successfully passing the fundamental or
professional level of such course. (KPMG will reimburse the fees of F papers for the fundamental level
and of P papers for the professional level of the course).

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 Professional Qualification Policy

5. Conditions of Enrollment

5.1 Employees, including those who are re-employed with the Firm within 12 months of leaving, who
are interested in a basic qualification should have at least 12 months of service without more than
60 days of unpaid leave, and should be employed on a 12-month labor contract and
achieve/maintain a minimum Effective Performance Rate of 3 on the Global Performance
Development Rating scale during the registration and length of the course.
5.2 Exceptions can be made for a qualifying period of 12 months at the discretion of the partner in-
charge of the Function, for example, for lateral hires, this is dependent on whether the employee
started the program prior to joining KPMG.
5.3 Employees who are interested in relevant advanced courses should be employed in a minimum
capacity of Assistant Manager and have at least 12 months of service and achieve a minimum
rating of 2 in the Highly Effective Performance division on the Global Performance Development
Rating scale during the year of registration and maintain an Effective Performance rating of 3 on
the Global Performance Development Rating scale throughout the duration of the course.
5.4 If subsequent to the registration date and during the duration of the course, the performance
grading of the participating employee falls below the required rating, the employee will not be
allowed to continue the course until the employee can improve his/her performance rating as per
the required level.
5.5 Employees under a labor contract with a duration of less than 12 months; under long term and
short term international assignment; or interns, are not eligible for applying for any enrollment.
5.6 Employees can only take one professional qualification course at a time and must not alter an
incomplete course to another.
5.7 The employees at minimum level and of specific Functions as listed below will be eligible to enroll
for specific professional qualifications:

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 Professional Qualification Policy

Level Qualification Function Significance

CPA Vietnam Audit Basic
CPA Cambodia Tax
All levels VTCA Finance
ACCA Deal Advisory
CPA Australia
CA ANZ
ACA –ICAEW
CISA Consulting
Lawyer Practicing Training Legal
CIMA All Advanced
Assistant Manager CFA
and above
MBA
Advanced courses listed above and other courses not mentioned in the above list will be subjected
to approval from the Head of Function and the CEO/CFO.

6. Studying Administration

Enrollment Procedure

6.1 At the start of each semester, the KBS Team will communicate with all eligible levels to register
for the respective course in line with the qualification schedule. In order to register for such
qualifications, applicants must complete the Registration Procedures as per the KBS Team’s
guidance email at the time.
6.2 Employees who wish to apply for Advanced Courses must complete the Advanced Course
Application Form with the approval of their Head of Function and the CEO/CFO. Approval will
not generally be granted within 1 years of completion of a Basic Qualification supported by the
Firm.
6.3 Should the employee undertake an approved professional qualification courses cancel registered
exams without prior notice in line with the guidance for each course, other terms in
Reimbursement Procedures in section 8 below will be applied.
6.4 The Performance Manager will be responsible for the monitoring of the employees undertaking
professional qualification courses in line with the policy and specific course process / guidelines.

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 Professional Qualification Policy

Examination Leave

6.5 Time spent on taking exams or participating in approved classes during working time will be
counted as such on the OTAL system. No annual leave needs to be used to cover that time, but
the Performance Manager’s approval for the absence must be obtained in advance. This point
will not be applied for VACPA pre-examination courses which lasts for nearly 2 months on
working days.
6.6 For examination sittings, employees will only be allowed to take leave for each scheduled
examination session, i.e. if an employee has 6 subjects scheduled over 3 days, they will be
allowed to have 3 examination days of leave, rather than 6. If the examination falls is only half
day, employee will be allowed to take half day leave only, not a full day.
6.7 Days taken as course attendance and exam leave should be recorded consistently between IBS
Timesheet and the OTAL System as per recommendation from the KBS Team and approval of
Audit Operation and Resources Team for Audit or the Performance Manager for other teams.
Failure to do so may result in inaccurate time recording and may result in these respective days
being deducted from the employee’s annual leave bank.
6.8 If employees for any reason are unable to attend the examination date which has already been
applied as exam leave on OTAL, they will be able to transfer that leave to the next examination
date within the same respective year. However, the employees are required to provide the HR
department with the evidence for their examination absence and update their leave type on IBS
Timesheet and the OTAL System accordingly and in a timely manner.
6.9 The employee undertaking approved professional qualification courses must ensure studying
and working time balance by pacing their training in line with the Firm’s business patterns.
Travel and Examination Cost

6.10 Employees undertaking approved professional qualification courses must be responsible for their
own travel costs and accommodation arrangements for exams abroad or away from their home
city. Exceptions would be considered based on a case-by-case review that require approval from
the Partner in charge of the Function.
6.11 The cost of registration, exams, materials, training courses and other administrative costs will be
advanced directly by the Firm on behalf of the employee, except if the employee chooses the
reimbursement method which can be found further information in the section 8 - Reimbursement
Procedures.
6.12 The time and costs for registration, exams, materials, training courses and logistics in connection
with subjects where the employee is repeating as a result of having previously failed the same
subject will not be supported by the Firm.
6.13 To ensure employees are well prepared for examinations, it is expected that employees
undertaking professional qualifications under Firms support will participate in all mock exams
and revision activities as organized by professional qualification bodies or KPMG. Where such
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 Professional Qualification Policy

activities have been organized for employees, Partner approval will be required for any
absences.
6.14 In case employees are re-sitting for papers that they have previously failed, these retaken papers
will be at the employee’s cost and count towards the maximum number of papers that they are
eligible to sit for that examination period.
6.15 Should an employee cancel a registered exam for an approved professional qualification course
without prior notice, 100% of the exam cost will be charged for the first time to the employee. For
the second cancellation without prior notice, permanent termination from course enrolment will
be applied.
6.16 Cost to be paid to the Firm:
By participating in relevant courses, the employee authorizes explicitly KPMG to liaise with
subsequent employers to collect any advanced amounts owing to the employee on the termination
date and to take necessary actions to recover such amounts.

Type of cost to be accumulated and paid How to identify due amount

to the Firm

Initial registration fee

Enrolment fee / Admission fee

Annual subscription fee

Third party training costs All payments KPMG pays until the completion of
the entire training program, and only for the first
Materials for pass and un-passed papers/ attempt and fee from second attempt, if
subjects/ modules applicable, will be deducted from employees’
salary.
Examination fee

Logistics cost

Membership fee The membership fee that KPMG has paid for the
year that the employee leaves the Firm will be
counted for the period from January to end of June.
If the employee leaves the Firm from July, the fee
will be waived. Otherwise, resignees are required
to pay back to the Firm.

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 Professional Qualification Policy

7. Binding Scheme (payment day or completion day)

7.1 Employees study a professional qualification under the Firm’s sponsorship will strictly follow the
binding scheme as shown in below table:

Significance Binding Period

CPA Vietnam
CPA Cambodia No binding scheme is applied.
VTCA

The binding period is 12 months after confirmation of successful completion

of each level, issued by the professional bodies.
Basic Courses

For Basic Qualifications that includes different levels such as fundamental

ACCA and professional levels, a binding period will also be split into different
CPA stages according to the completion of each level.
CA ACCA & CPA: A 12 months binding period will be applied after the employee
has officially passed all fundamental papers, and another 12 months after the
ACA – ICAEW employee has officially passed all professional papers (completion
CISA confirmation issued by ACCA/CPA).
For ACA, the binding period is 12 months after employees have officially
passed the certificate level (6 papers), 12 months after employees have
passed professional level (6 papers) and 6 months after employees have
passed Advance level (2 papers + 1 case study).

CIMA: The binding period is 2 months after employees have officially passed
operational level, 12 months after employees have officially passed
CIMA
management level and 12 months after employees have officially passed
strategic level.
Advanced Courses

CFA For CFA, the binding period is 6 months for each level.

The binding period will be 24 months and commence from the date the
employee has officially passed the final exam or equivalent and is
MBA confirmed as having met all criteria that results in the employee being
eligible to receive the relevant professional qualification/designation until the
last official working date of the employees with KPMG.
Should employees undertake any approved advanced qualifications leave
Other advanced KPMG earlier than the end of their respective binding period, they will
courses (*) reimburse to KPMG all related training costs accumulated for the entire
training program that the company has advanced or incurred.

(*) available upon approval from Managing Partner of Function and Head of People.

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 Professional Qualification Policy

All of the above costs and any other amounts advanced in relation to the professional qualification
will be accounted as employee advances that should be returned in full to KPMG if the employee
leaves the Firm before the end of the binding period.

8. Reimbursement

8.1 Professional qualifications study can be completed either through the Firms support as relating to
the points above in this Professional Qualification Policy or through self-financing means from
employees. The following points outline the criteria, steps and procedures that must be followed
in order to claim reimbursements for prior professional qualification studies, subjects, papers or
membership/administration fees.
8.2 The reimbursement claim form may only be submitted after an employee has completed each
stage of professional qualification i.e. all fundamental or professional subjects have been
successfully passed.
8.3 At the time of the reimbursement claim, the employee should have at least 24 months of service
without more than 60 days unpaid leave, and achieve/maintain, at minimum, Effective
Performance - rate 3 in Global Performance Development Rating scale.
8.4 The Firm will reimburse the costs associated with KPMG approved training courses only as
outlined in section 4 – Professional Qualification Availability and the binding: 2 years from the
day signing the reimbursement agreement form. These cost might include an initial registration
fee, enrollment fee, pre-assessment fee, annual subscription fee, material fee, membership fee.
8.5 The Firm will only reimburse the cost for the first attempt. Subsequent costs incurred because
the employee failed to pass the examination and should repeat the same subject are not eligible
for reimbursement.
8.6 Employees who join the Firm as an experienced hire or lateral hire, or lateral hire and need to be
discharged of bonds from previous employers may be able to do so at the discretionary approval
from the Managing Partner of the Function they are joining. Reimbursements will only be
considered for employees who join at minimum senior level. Employees will need to provide
evidence or supporting documentation from their previous employer stating the full amount of
money owed. Employees in this situation will be allowed to continue studying towards their
professional qualification until completion. Monies received to cover any previous employer debts
will be subject to a 24 month binding period. Furthermore, monies reimbursed to the employee
shall not exceed the total amount for the same study patterns had the employee been working
at KPMG. Once further studies have commenced under KPMG Firm support, employees will be
subject to the Professional Qualification policy outlined above.
8.7 Employees must provide all original invoices/receipts (or other supporting documents) to be
considered for reimbursement.
8.8 Personal income tax on the reimbursement should be borne by the employees.
8.9 Personal income tax on the reimbursement should be borne by the employees.
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 Professional Qualification Policy

8.10 The Firm can reimburse the cost for these certain professional qualification studies in
stages. At present, the professional qualification study which the cost can be reimbursed in
stages is as follow. This list will be updated based on the input provided to HR Department.
ACCA & CPA
First reimbursement (F level) Final reimbursement (P level)
‐ The employee has successfully passed all ‐ The employee has successfully
subjects for fundamental level. passed all subjects for professional
level.
‐ At the time of reimbursement claim, the
employee must be at minimum senior 2 (or ‐ At the time of reimbursement claim,
equivalent) level. the employee must be at minimum
Assistant Manager (AM) level.

ACA
First reimbursement (Certificate level)
‐ The employee has successfully passed all
subjects for certificate level.
‐ At the time of reimbursement claim, the
employee must be at minimum senior 2 (or
equivalent) level.
Final reimbursement (Professional &
Advanced level)
‐ The employee has successfully
passed all subjects for professional &
Advanced level.
‐ At the time of reimbursement claim,
the employee must be at minimum
Assistant Manager (AM) level.

Reimbursement for advanced courses or Master programs must be approved by the Partner in
charge of the Function.
In the event that an employee who has received a reimbursement resigns or leaves the Firm
prior to the end of the binding period, all monies reimbursed must then be fully returned to the
Firm prior to final HR exit procedures.

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 Professional Qualification Policy

9. Outstanding Professional Qualification Achievement Rewards

KPMG is committed to recognizing outstanding achievements of our employees who are in

pursuit of renowned Professional Qualifications for personal and professional development.
These rewards covered under this policy include the following:

Qualification Criteria Reward

Association of ‐ The best mark in the whole
Chartered Certified country for any one paper/
Accountants subject (“ACCA top prize
(ACCA) winner”/ “CPAA high
and distinction”)
Australian Society of ‐ Successfully pass all
Certified Practicing papers/subjects at first
Accountants (CPAA) attempt and subsequently
eligible for ACCA affiliate
ACA
status/ CPAA membership
CIMA status
Vietnamese CPA Pass all subjects/papers at
(VACPA) first attempt and is
subsequently eligible for full
membership (applicable for
both traditional and
conversion examinations)
Vietnam Tax Pass all subjects/papers in
Certificate Agent one attempt and is
(VTCA) subsequently eligible for
membership
Rewards for further outstanding achievements that are not recognized through the normal
Performance Development/K-Payment process, will be approved at the discretion of the CEO.
‐ Best mark: an amount of
VND4,000,000 gross or
KHR800,000 gross will be
paid to the employee’s
salary when the original
certificate is furnished
‐ Successful completion of
all papers/subjects in first
attempt: an amount of
VND10,000,000 gross or
KHR2,000,000 gross will
be paid to the employee’s
salary when the original
certificate is furnished
An amount of VND10,000,000
gross will be paid to the
employee’s salary when the
original certificate is furnished
An amount of VND4,000,000
gross will be paid to the
employee’s salary when the
original certificate is furnished

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10. Appendix – Reimbursement procedure

Outstanding
Professional Qualific

PQ-Advanced
course applilcation f

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