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Southeast Asia · Vietnam

Fractional and interim C-suite leadership in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam is the easiest market in the region to serve legally with a non-resident executive, and it happens for two unrelated reasons that stack neatly.

Decree 219/2025 raised the work-permit exemption to work under 90 days per calendar year, needing only a confirmation of exemption. And foreign contractor tax does not apply at all where services are performed and consumed entirely outside Vietnam.

The cost logic here is not exit risk. Severance is close to nil once unemployment-insurance years are deducted. It is supply: qualified CFOs are scarce against a base of 940,000 enterprises.

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Finance mandates here

Our sister practice SmeCFO has delivered fractional and interim CFO engagements in Vietnam since 2015 and handles finance mandates in this market directly. Every other function goes to an independent specialist firm. How we are paid.

Guidance only in this market

We publish research on Vietnam but do not currently route enquiries here, because the local rules on referral and introduction are unsettled. Everything below is free to use, and you are welcome to write to us — we will point you somewhere useful without taking a fee.

The numbers

Fractional, per monthVND 80m–250m/month (USD 3,100–9,600), typically VND 100m–160m at two days a week.
Full-time, all-inNavigos 2026 puts a CFO at VND 130m–350m/month and a CEO or managing director at VND 300m–500m. All-in: VND 1.8bn–4.8bn a year, roughly USD 69,000–184,000.
Corporate tax20% standard, with new tiered rates of 15–17% for qualifying SMEs from tax year 2025.
VAT / GST10% standard, reduced by two points to 8% for eligible goods and services from July 2025 through December 2026.
Employer on-costsSocial insurance 17.5% employer, health 3%, unemployment 1%. Bases are capped at 20× the reference level, giving an effective employer ceiling of about VND 10.6m/month regardless of executive salary. At CFO pay the marginal on-cost is negligible.
SeveranceHalf a month per year of service on the last six months’ average — but years covered by unemployment insurance are deducted, and UI has been mandatory since 2009. Most employees therefore accrue almost no statutory severance. Vietnam is the cheapest market here to exit a senior employee.
Work permitsUnder 90 days a year needs only an exemption confirmation. Otherwise: an offshore company-to-company consultancy delivered outside Vietnam with no FCT; a registered contract with 5% VAT and 5% CIT withheld where delivery is partly in-country; or a full work permit capped at two years.

What actually governs this in Vietnam

The regimes that change the answer, rather than the ones that sound like they should.

Decree 219/2025 on work permits

In force from August 2025. Expert experience cut from three years to two — one in priority sectors including finance and technology; ten working days processing; permits capped at two years; exemption categories raised to fifteen.

The 90-day exemption

Work under 90 days per calendar year now needs only a confirmation of exemption, up from 30 days per visit. Capital contributors of VND 3bn or more are exempt entirely.

Foreign contractor tax

A foreign company invoicing a Vietnamese entity for consultancy is taxed on a deemed basis at 5% VAT plus 5% CIT. Services performed and consumed entirely outside Vietnam are outside FCT — the single most important structuring point.

Mandatory Chief Accountant

Every FDI enterprise must appoint a certified Chief Accountant with no revenue or headcount exemption. A fractional CFO in Vietnam sits above that statutory role rather than replacing it, so the scope is strategy, controls and investor reporting.

Why companies here buy it

  • The under-90-day exemption plus the FCT exclusion for offshore delivery makes Vietnam the easiest market in the region to serve legally with a non-resident executive.
  • Severance is near nil, so the case is supply rather than exit risk — the senior finance and operations bench is the binding constraint on scale-ups.
  • The compulsory Chief Accountant already handles statutory filing, so what companies buy is senior judgment on fundraising, IFRS conversion and transfer pricing in days per month.

How business is done

  • The Chief Accountant is a named, personally liable statutory office an FDI company cannot fold into a CFO title. The fractional CFO sits above it, not in place of it.
  • A company must at all times have a legal representative residing in Vietnam, and one leaving for more than 30 days must delegate authority in writing — which is why non-resident fractional executives are almost never appointed legal representative.

Market context

  • Over 940,000 active enterprises plus more than five million business households; the private sector is around 50% of GDP and 82% of employment.
  • Vietnam has roughly one enterprise per 100 people against Singapore’s one per 10 — the formalisation runway is enormous.

By role

CFO

Fractional CFO

Cash, controls, reporting and the numbers investors and lenders will actually believe.

COO

Fractional COO

Turning a business that works because people try hard into one that works because it is designed to.

CTO

Fractional CTO

Technical judgment for companies whose product decisions have outgrown their engineering.

CMO

Fractional CMO

Positioning, pricing and demand generation — owned by someone senior enough to say no.

CRO

Fractional CRO

A repeatable commercial engine, rather than a founder who happens to be good at selling.

CISO

Fractional CISO

Security leadership for companies whose customers and regulators have started asking questions they cannot answer.

CHRO

Fractional CHRO

Employment structure, senior hiring and the people risk nobody looks at until it is expensive.

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Sources

Figures are compiled from the sources below and reviewed quarterly. Tax and employment law change; check the position before you rely on it, and take local advice on anything material.

PwC — Vietnam corporate taxesDecree 219/2025 work permit reformsForeign contractor tax guide

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