State-owned enterprises must publicly disclose the salaries and bonuses of their leaders.

From November 5th, state-owned enterprises will be required to publicly disclose their financial indicators, business performance results, and annual salaries and bonuses for management staff.

The government has just issued a Decree on the disclosure of information by State-owned enterprises, effective from November 5, 2015, to ensure transparency, management, and supervision of enterprise activities.

State-owned enterprises that violate information disclosure regulations will face the most severe penalty: criminal prosecution.

Periodically, businesses must publicly disclose their development strategies, annual production and business plans, investment development plans, six-month and annual financial reports, and annual reports on the implementation of business restructuring and innovation. In particular, businesses will have to report on the salary and bonus system for managers, including the average basic salary, bonuses, and average income.

This information must be published on the enterprise's portal or website, and a report must be submitted to the state-owned enterprise's representative agency and the Ministry of Planning and Investment. If this cannot be done within the specified timeframe due to force majeure, the enterprise must report to the state-owned enterprise's representative agency, announce the information on its electronic portal or through the media, and publish the information immediately after the force majeure event is resolved.

If violations regarding information disclosure occur, the management agency will also take appropriate measures, ranging from a reprimand to criminal prosecution. "In cases where violations lead to the state-owned enterprise's representative agency being unable to promptly provide guidance, recommendations, or solutions, resulting in the enterprise's operations falling into difficulties and causing losses of state capital, disciplinary action ranging from salary reduction to dismissal will be applied, and a recommendation will be made to the competent authorities to prosecute the enterprise manager," the document states.

Previously, some ministries and agencies had also required their affiliated corporations to publicly report their financial situation, but with this new Decree, the Government has made progress in increasing transparency in the operations of state-owned enterprises, with some similarities to the information disclosure regime of publicly traded companies on the stock exchange today.

According to Vnexpress