Detailed instructions on how to make a quick and standard Financial Report in 2025

Accurate and timely financial reporting is an important factor in helping businesses maintain financial transparency and comply with legal regulations. This article will guide you through the process of preparing financial reports for 2025 in detail, from data collection to reporting steps, helping you complete the job quickly and accurately. 

With the latest updates in regulations and methods of financial reporting, businesses will easily apply them to their company's reality, improve work efficiency and optimize accounting processes.

1. What is a Financial Report?

Financial statements (FS) are a system of tables showing the financial situation, business performance and cash flow of an enterprise in a certain accounting period. According to Accounting Law amended in 2015, Financial statements are a economic and financial information system presented in a standardized form, to serve internal management, reporting to State agencies and providing information to relevant parties.

1.1 What does a business's Financial Reporting System include?

Financial statements are a collection of documents that comprehensively reflect the assets, finances and business results of an enterprise during a period. A standard financial reporting system includes:

• Balance Sheet: Reflects all assets, liabilities and equity at a given point in time.
• Business Performance Report: Shows the business's revenue, expenses, and profit (or loss) during the period.
• Cash Flow Statement: Record cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities.
• Notes to the Financial Statements: Provide detailed information and explanations of the main report indicators.
• (May be attached) Statement of Changes in Owner's Equity: Shows the changes in equity and retained earnings during the period.

1.2 Purpose of preparing financial statements

Financial reports not only meet legal requirements but are also a powerful tool to support business management and development. The main purposes include:

• Provide transparent and accurate financial information: For business leaders, tax authorities, investors, banks and partners.
• Support internal management: Helps plan strategies, control costs and optimize operational efficiency.
• Serve legal obligations: Meet financial reporting requirements as prescribed by authorities.
• Economic decision support: Provide basis for investment, borrowing, evaluating business performance, etc.

1.3 Information that financial statements need to show

A standard financial report must fully demonstrate information related to assets, capital sources and business results. Specifically including:

• Current assets of the enterprise.
• Accounts Payable: Includes short-term debt and long-term debt.
• Equity: Contributed capital and undistributed profits.
• Sales revenue, other income and expenses incurred.
• Profit, loss and profit sharing method.
• Cash inflow and outflow: By type of business, investment and financial activity.
• Detailed explanations: Shown in the financial statement notes.

1.4 The significance of financial statements for businesses and external partners

Financial statements not only have internal value but also serve as a basis for external evaluation of the business situation. Specific roles include:

• For internal business: Help the management and finance and accounting departments evaluate performance, make operational decisions, control costs and optimize resources.
• For outside the business: It is the basis for investors to evaluate potential, banks to approve credit, partners to consider cooperation and state agencies to check the level of compliance with the law.

2. Classification of Financial Statements

In the process of learning how to make financial report, understanding the types of Financial Statements (FS) is necessary to ensure accuracy and compliance with legal regulations. Depending on the organizational model and scope of operations of the enterprise, FS are classified as follows:

2.1 Separate Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements

Separate Financial Statements is a report reflecting the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of each independent legal entity, excluding subsidiaries.

• An enterprise that does not have subsidiaries, or is a subsidiary within a group, will prepare separate financial statements to report its own performance.
• This is a mandatory report for all businesses, used to submit to tax authorities, banks or for internal management purposes.

Consolidated Financial Statements Prepared by a parent company when it has one or more subsidiaries. This report reflects the entire financial performance of the group as a single economic entity.

• Enterprises must prepare consolidated financial statements when the parent company has control over the subsidiary (usually owning more than 50% of voting rights).
• This type of report helps provide an overview of the financial situation of the entire system, serving investors, shareholders and authorities.

2.2 Annual Financial Reports, Interim Reports and Other Periodic Reports

In addition to classification by business structure, financial statements are also divided according to reporting period:

• Annual Financial Report: This is a mandatory report, prepared at the end of the fiscal year. This is the legal basis for tax settlement and annual business performance assessment.
• Interim Financial Report: Usually established at the end of the second or third quarter, serving the needs of management, borrowing capital, or disclosing information to investors.
• Other Periodic Reports: Can be prepared at the request of business leaders, partners or management agencies, such as monthly, quarterly or project reports.

2.3 Purpose and time of preparing each type of report

Clearly defining the purpose and timing of each type of financial report is an important factor in the corporate financial management process. This not only helps to comply with legal regulations but also effectively supports internal management and information transparency with stakeholders. Below are the specific objectives and timing of each type of report: 

• Purpose: All types of financial statements aim to provide honest and reasonable financial information, serve internal management decision making, transparently disclose financial information to shareholders and comply with legal obligations to state agencies.
• Time of establishment: Depending on each type of report, businesses need to proactively prepare it on time to avoid violating regulations and ensure financial activities are effectively controlled.

Correctly classifying and fully preparing all types of financial reports will help businesses maintain transparent operations, build reputation and create a solid foundation for sustainable growth. This is also an indispensable step in how to make financial report methodical and professional

3. Basic content of a set of Financial Statements (FS)

A complete set of financial statements includes 5 main components, reflecting the overall financial situation and business operations of the enterprise. Understanding each report helps business owners accurately grasp the financial situation and make effective business decisions. This is the first step in how to make financial report and is also an important foundation in how to make financial report correct

3.1. Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet is an indispensable foundation in the financial reporting system, helping to reflect an overview of the financial situation of the enterprise at a certain point in time.

Definition & Purpose: This is a report that shows the total assets, liabilities and equity of a business at a certain point in time. It helps to evaluate the solvency and financial structure of the business. If you are looking to learn how to prepare financial statements properly, this is a report that cannot be missed.

Basic elements:

• Asset: Includes short-term assets (cash, inventory) and long-term assets (machinery, real estate).
• Source of capital: Includes liabilities (short-term and long-term) and equity.
• Accounting equation: Total Assets = Total Resources (Liabilities + Equity)

3.2. Income Statement

If you need to know whether your business is making a profit or losing money, this is the first report to look at. This report provides a clear view of how your business is performing over an accounting period.

Definition & Purpose: Reflects the business results of the period, indicating whether the business is profitable or losing. This is an important part of how to make financial reports and is also a key point in how to make transparent and accurate financial reports.
Basic elements:

• Revenue: Total revenue from sales and services.
• Cost of goods sold: Direct costs associated with products or services sold.
• Gross profit: Revenue minus cost of goods sold.
• Operating costs: Selling expenses, administrative expenses, financial expenses.
• Net profit: Profit after deducting all expenses.
• Basic formula: Profit = Revenue – Cost

3.3. Cash Flow Statement

Even if a business has a profit on its books, it can still face financial difficulties if it does not manage its cash flow effectively. This report helps clarify all the cash flows in and out during the period.

Definition & Purpose: Analyze cash inflows and outflows to help assess a business's ability to pay and manage cash. In the preparation of financial statements, cash flow statements often cause difficulties for many businesses due to the complexity of cash flow.
Types of cash flows:

• Business activities: Cash flow from operations and sales.
• Investment activities: Cash flow from purchases of long-term assets.
• Financial activities: Cash flow from borrowing, issuing shares or repaying debt.

3.4. Statement of Changes in Equity

This report helps track changes in owners' equity — which represents the true net worth of a business during a financial period.

Definition & Purpose: Record changes in equity during the period, including retained earnings, dividends, and other adjustments.
Influencing factors:

• Net profit or loss for the period
• Dividends paid
• Issuance or repurchase of shares

Understanding this report helps ensure consistency when performing financial reporting, especially when compiling data to prepare year-end financial reports.

3.5. Notes to Financial Statements

This is an indispensable explanatory section that accompanies financial reports, providing depth of information and creating transparency in the presentation of data.

Definition & Role: Provides details and explanations of figures in other financial statements, helping readers better understand accounting policies and potential risks.

Main content:

• Applicable accounting policies
• Details of important items
• Information on financial risks

The explanatory note is an indispensable part of financial reporting and is also a powerful tool to support transparent financial reporting in compliance with legal regulations.

Summary: Compare 3 main contents

4. 7 Detailed Steps to Prepare Financial Reports in 2025

To complete the 2025 Financial Statements accurately and on time, businesses need to fully implement the process from collecting documents to checking and comparing data. Below are 7 detailed steps to help you prepare effective financial statements and comply with current accounting regulations:

Step 1: Collect and arrange accounting documents
Collect all documents such as invoices, payroll, receipts, and asset records. Arrange them chronologically or by category, and check the validity of the documents.

Step 2: Accounting for arising economic transactions
Record transactions into accounting books using accounting software to ensure accuracy. Classify by month/quarter to prepare interim financial statements.

Step 3: Calculate depreciation, prepaid expenses and allocation
Classify and account for depreciation and prepayments. Use accounting software to track and allocate costs by department and product.

Step 4: Accounting for estimates and adjustments
Review and adjust entries such as exchange rate differences, provisions, and year-end error adjustments.

Step 5: Check and compare accounting data
Reconcile figures between accounts and actual documents. Check the accuracy of accounting entries.

Step 6: Make the transfer entries
Carry forward profits/losses during the year, corporate income tax if any, use accounting software to automate accounting entries.

Step 7: Prepare Financial Report on tax declaration support software
Prepare official financial reports according to regulations (Circular 200/2014/TT-BTC, 133/2016/TT-BTC, 132/2018/TT-BTC) and enter data into HTKK software if submitted online.

5. Instructions for submitting Financial Reports online via eTax

To submit Financial Reports quickly and accurately, businesses can do it online via the eTax system. Below are detailed steps to help you complete the report submission easily.

Detailed steps:

• Access to eTax system: Open the browser and access the electronic portal of the General Department of Taxation.
• Log in: Use the registered login account (Tax code and password) to enter the system.
• Select declaration: Search and select the correct financial report template to submit (annual or quarterly financial statements).
• Download file: Upload prepared financial report file into the system.
• Electronic signature: Use digital signature to confirm declaration, ensuring legality.
• Submit the form: After electronically signing, click the “Submit report” button to complete the process.

Submit appendix:

• Notes to financial statements: Upload the required financial statement explanatory notes.
• Balance Sheet: Ensure complete information is provided on the accounting accounts in the balance sheet.

Note on submission deadline:

• Time to submit financial reports: According to the law, enterprises must submit financial reports before March 31 of the following year for the report of the fiscal year.

6. Deadline for submission of Financial Reports

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 29 of the 2015 Accounting Law

According to Clause 3, Article 29 of the 2015 Accounting Law, the deadline for submitting annual Financial Statements (FS) is prescribed as follows:

• Non-state enterprise: Must submit financial statements within 90 days from the end of the fiscal year.
• State-owned enterprise: Must submit financial statements within 120 days from the end of the fiscal year.

For non-state enterprises

Non-state enterprises are required to submit financial statements within 90 days from the end of the fiscal year. This applies to private enterprises, limited liability companies, joint stock companies and other types of enterprises that are not state-owned.

For state-owned enterprises

State-owned enterprises must submit financial statements within 120 days from the end of the fiscal year. This applies to state-owned enterprises or enterprises with a dominant state capital.

Deadline for submission to superior accounting unit (if any)

In case the enterprise has a superior accounting unit, the financial statements must be submitted to this unit within 30 days from the date of completion of the financial statements. This helps ensure transparency and accuracy in financial consolidation and reporting.

Special cases where annual financial statements are not required

According to Article 30 of the 2015 Accounting Law, there are some cases where enterprises do not have to prepare annual financial statements, including:

• Newly established businesses in their first fiscal year.
• The enterprise is dissolved, bankrupt or ceases operations during the fiscal year.
• Super small-scale enterprises apply special accounting regimes according to Circular 132/2018/TT-BTC.

7. Legal regulations to be complied with when preparing financial statements

When preparing financial statements (FS), businesses need to comply with a number of important legal regulations to ensure legality and accuracy. Specifically:

Determine the accounting regime applicable to the enterprise: Enterprises must determine the correct accounting regime appropriate to their scale and type of operation, including regulations on financial reporting for micro, medium and large enterprises.

Requirements for information presented in financial statements: The information in financial statements must ensure:

• Honest, reasonable, complete, objective: There are no errors and must accurately reflect the financial situation of the business.
• Appropriate, complete and easy to understand: Information should be easily verifiable, timely and understandable to users.
• Consistent and comparable: Ensure consistency across reporting periods and easy comparison between periods.

Principles of establishing and presenting financial statements:

• Compliance with accounting standards: Financial statements must be prepared in accordance with national and international accounting standards.
• Principle of caution: It is necessary to reflect the financial situation accurately without distorting the information.
• Classification of assets and liabilities: It is necessary to clearly classify short-term and long-term assets, as well as liabilities into appropriate groups.
• Matching principle for revenue and expenses: Revenues and expenses must be recognized appropriately.
• Retroactive correction of errors: When errors are detected, timely and accurate adjustments must be made.

Excluding internal items when preparing consolidated financial statements: Ensure that internal transactions are not included in the consolidated financial statements to avoid misstatements.

Regulations on signing financial statements: Financial statements must be signed by authorized individuals and must comply with regulations on report signatories to ensure the legality of the report.

8. Important notes when preparing and submitting Financial Reports

Preparing and submitting Financial Statements (FS) is a mandatory requirement for most businesses in Vietnam to honestly reflect the financial situation and business results. The level of requirements and the form of preparing FS may vary depending on the type of business and scale of operations.

8.1. Enterprises required to prepare Financial Statements

Most businesses in Vietnam are responsible for preparing annual financial statements (FS). Specifically:

• State-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises.
• Joint stock company, limited liability company, private enterprise, partnership.
• Financial institutions, securities companies, investment funds.
• Listed enterprises and public interest organizations.

Some special cases such as micro-enterprises may be exempted from preparing financial statements if they meet specific conditions on tax payment methods.

8.2. Requirements for information presented in Financial Statements

When preparing financial statements, businesses need to ensure the following requirements:

• Fairly and fairly reflect the financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
• Comply with current accounting standards and accounting regimes.
• Information is clear, complete, easy to understand and comparable between accounting periods.
• Data is presented consistently and explained when changes occur.

8.3. Principles of establishing and presenting Financial Statements

Some important principles to follow include:

• Compliance with accounting standards: Record and present in accordance with regulations.
• Respect substance over form: Prioritize the economic nature of the transaction.
• Continuous operation: Assume the business continues to operate.
• Consistent: Apply consistent accounting policies from period to period.
• Circumspect: Reasonable estimate, not misleading report.
• Important and collective: Present only information that has a major impact.
• No compensation: Do not offset assets with liabilities or revenues with expenses unless otherwise specified.

8.4. Deadline for submission of Financial Reports

Depending on the type of business, the deadline for submitting financial reports is as follows:

• Private enterprises and partnerships: No later than 30 days from the end of the fiscal year.
• Other businesses: No later than 90 days.
• Parent company, parent company: Also 90 days, calculated from the end date of the annual accounting period.

For example: If the accounting period ends on December 31, 2024, the enterprise needs to submit financial statements before March 31, 2025.

8.5. Penalties for violations of regulations on preparation and presentation of Financial Statements

Enterprises will be subject to administrative penalties if:

• Late submission of financial statements less than 3 months: Fine from 5 to 10 million VND.
• Late payment of 3 months or more or incomplete disclosure: Fine from 10 to 20 million VND.
• Misrepresentation of data or inconsistent information: Fine up to 30 million VND.
• Failure to submit or disclose reports as required: Fine up to 50 million VND.

8.6. Notes when submitting Financial Reports and Notes online

Currently, businesses submitting financial statements online need to pay attention to:

• Prepare the correct file format (usually XML or PDF).
• Use a valid digital signature when submitting on the portal of the General Department of Taxation or the Department of Planning and Investment.
• Check the data and accompanying notes carefully before sending.
• Store full soft copies and printed copies with signatures and stamps for comparison when needed.

9. Applying financial management software in preparing financial statements

9.1 Common errors when preparing financial statements manually

For many small and medium sized businesses, how to make financial report Traditionally this is often done using Excel or basic tools. However, this method has many potential risks:

• Errors in classification of assets and liabilities: Confusing current and long-term assets or misrecognizing their value can result in reports that do not accurately reflect the financial situation.
• Error in calculating business results: A wrong formula or wrong operation in Excel can cause reported profits to deviate from reality.
• Errors in cash flow recording: Not clearly distinguishing cash flows from business, investment and financial activities makes it difficult to analyze cash flow efficiency.
• Manual data entry error: Data entered from invoices and documents, if incorrect, will affect the entire report.
• Difficult to control inventory: Incorrect inventory recording distorts cost of goods sold and gross profit.

9.2 Disadvantages of preparing financial statements manually

In addition to common errors, businesses also face many difficulties when applying manual financial reporting methods:

• High risk of error and fraud: Lack of control and standardization leads to the risk of intentional data manipulation.
• Time consuming and labor intensive: Each accounting period is a "race" against the deadline, spending hours summarizing, checking, and comparing data.
• Manual data analysis is difficult to perform: Extracting data for management reporting or business performance analysis is labor-intensive.
• Updating new policies is difficult: When there are changes from the tax authorities, updating forms and accounting accounts manually is easy to miss.
• Poor internal information sharing: Excel reports are often stored locally, making it difficult to share or check edit history.

9.3 Optimize financial reporting with accounting software

In a context where businesses are faced with increasing demands for financial transparency, rapid decision-making and regulatory compliance pressure, Automated accounting software like Bizzi is becoming the top choice for optimization. how to make financial report.

Unlike traditional accounting software that only supports data entry, Bizzi offers Smart financial accounting platform, specially designed to serve Vietnamese businesses:

• Automate the entire accounting process: From processing input invoices (e-invoices), reconciling debts, to preparing end-of-period financial reports – all are automated in just a few steps.
• Minimize manual errors: Thanks to AI cross-checking data and warning of errors according to Vietnamese accounting standards, Bizzi helps eliminate common risks when making financial statements using Excel.
• Save up to 80% in reporting time: No more manual operations, no need for complicated reconciliation – financial reports are generated in minutes with accurate, transparent figures.
• Automatic transfer and reporting feature according to Circular 200/133: Bizzi integrates financial statement forms and accounting entries, helping accountants avoid the hassle of updating or doing it manually.
• Real-time visual financial dashboard: Business owners can quickly track financial status, revenue, expenses, cash flow... without having to wait for reports from the accounting department.

10. Business Cost Management and Financial Reporting

In the process prepare and analyze financial statements, cost is always one of the factors that business owners are most concerned about. Because cost not only directly affects profits but also reflects the performance of the entire business.

10.1 Expenses in the Income Statement

One of the most important reports in the series financial statements (FS) To be Business Performance Report, which reflects in detail the revenue and expenses incurred during the period. Through that, business owners can determine:

• Gross profit: difference between net revenue and cost of goods sold.
• Net profit: final result after deducting all costs, including management costs, sales costs, financial costs, etc.

Understanding and understanding how expenses affect reporting is an important part of how to make financial report efficient and accurate

10.2 Cost Comparison: Actual vs. Planned

An indispensable step in the cost management process is comparison of actual costs with planned costs (or the same period last year). This helps businesses:

• Identify the overspend or cost saving compared to plan.
• Analyze the causes of fluctuations, from which Adjust spending strategy more suitable for later periods.

10.3 Detecting unusual costs

Through financial statements, especially indicators related to operating costs or financial costs, businesses can:

• Detect unusual expenses promptly or sudden increase or decrease.
• Proactive control and prevent financial risk in the future

10.4 Evaluating performance through profit margins

Rates such as Gross profit margin, net profit margin are important indicators to evaluate the efficiency of production and business activities. These indicators directly affected by cost, therefore, effective cost control will help improve:

• Overall business performance.
• Profitability of each department or product.

10.5 Financial statements are a strategic cost management tool

In addition to compliance, Internal financial reporting is also a powerful support tool in cost management in depth:

• Cost breakdown by department, project, product.
• Support for managers make decisions about downsizing, optimizing or restructuring Cost based on actual data.

Using automation software such as Bizzi will help businesses not only perform how to make financial report fast and accurate, but also provides the Flexible cost analysis report, supporting more effective management processes.

Conclude

Mastering how to make financial report Not only does it help businesses comply with legal regulations, it is also the foundation for effective management and strategic decision making in business.

In summary, the financial reporting process includes the following basic steps:

• Collect and process accounting documents;
• Classify and post to accounting accounts;
• Prepare general and detailed accounting books;
• Data synthesis, comparison, checking;
• Prepare required financial reports: including Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Notes to Financial Statements.

Financial statement preparation on time and accurate Not only does it help businesses avoid legal or tax risks, it also creates conditions for financial transparency – an important factor if businesses want to raise capital, expand their scale or participate in international markets.

To support businesses in preparing financial reports quickly, accurately and transparently, Bizzi provides a comprehensive automation solution, helping to process input invoices, manage budgets, control costs and reconcile debts effectively. 

Automate input invoice processing

Bizzi uses RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technology combined with AI to automatically download, check and reconcile electronic invoices. This helps reduce 80% of processing time and 50% of costs compared to manual methods, while increasing transparency and tax compliance. 

Budget management and cost control

Bizzi allows you to set up budgets for specific departments, projects, and spending categories. The system will automatically alert you when spending exceeds the budget or shows signs of irregularity, helping businesses control costs and avoid waste. 

Debt management and reconciliation

Bizzi provides a comprehensive debt management solution, helping businesses track, remind and reconcile debts accurately. The system automatically updates debt status, classifies debts by customer, supplier and contract, making it easy to manage cash flow. The automatic debt reminder feature helps minimize overdue debts, while debts are compared with financial reports and input invoices to ensure accuracy. Debt reports are always updated in real time, bringing transparency and reducing errors in the payment process.

Support financial reporting

With constantly updated and accurate cost and liability data, Bizzi helps businesses create financial reports quickly and completely. Reports can be customized according to needs, supporting businesses in strategic decision making and financial transparency.

Overall, Bizzi provides an integrated platform that helps businesses simplify accounting processes, increase financial management efficiency, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Thanks to that, the financial reporting process is no longer "blocked" by manual operations, risks of missing documents or errors in accounting. Enterprises can prepare reports faster, more accurate, ready to serve the purpose audit, raise capital or expand business in a transparent and efficient manner.

Sign up for a free trial now at: https://bizzi.vn/dang-ky-dung-thu/