By Mr. Jean Gustave Sanon and Mr. Abdoulahi Mfombouot, public expenditure management advisers at
The IMF Regional Technical Assistance Center for Central Africa (Central AFRITAC) organized a seminar on international standards and good practices in government accounting, which took place from October 26 to 29, 2009 in Douala, Cameroon. Led by the two Central AFRITAC public expenditure management advisers (based in Libreville, Gabon) and supported by four consultants from France, Morocco, Benin, and Cameroon, the seminar was attended by delegations from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo.
The topics of the seminar were chosen by Central AFRITAC based on its observation that the administrations responsible for government accounting in the countries it serves have great difficulty producing timely, complete and reliable accounting data as well as in the timely reporting of data on budget execution and the management of public funds.
Existing accounting frameworks are for the most part obsolete, in that they are not easily understood and are unable to capture all of governments’ financial operations and assets. In this context, the seminar came at an opportune moment to strengthen the capacities of government accountants and officers responsible for accounting, by affording them an opportunity to improve their knowledge of the various types of accounts that countries could prepare, good practices in the organization and bookkeeping of government accounts as well as of international accounting standards applicable to governments.
In addition to a general introduction of the seminar, the advisers made an analytical presentation of the directive issued by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) on government charts of accounts. It was noted that while this directive constitutes an important basis for improving accounting practices in the CEMAC zone, it can still be improved as there are some contradictions in its main content as well as inconsistencies with the other CEMAC directives in the harmonized framework for public finance (budget law, general regulations on public accounting, new government budget classification, and government budget execution reports). Expressing their agreement with this finding, the seminar participants recommended that the public finance directives be reviewed by CEMAC, with the support of the IMF, so as to correct their identified shortcomings and strengthen their consistency with international standards.
The consultants focused their presentations on (1) accounting reforms in France and Morocco; (2) budget accounting and general accounting concepts; (3) international accounting standards applicable to the public sector; (4) the organization of government accounting in the CEMAC zone (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of the Congo); and (5) the modalities for reporting year-end accounts. These presentations provide broad insights on the experience of countries that are advanced in this area and informed participants about various concepts related to government accounting, international accounting standards, and good practices in the field.
Each delegation in turn presented the accounting framework and the way accounts are prepared in their respective countries. Similarities emerged from the presentations with regard to the accounting systems of those countries that follow the French system although some countries like Gabon and Cameroon have recently upgraded their systems. The accounting systems of Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the other hand, showed certain specificities that are distinct from the other AFRITAC-Central member countries, owing essentially to the fact that their systems of institutional organization have historically been based on the Spanish and Belgian systems, respectively. In view of its membership in the CEMAC zone,
Regarding the results of the seminar, from the debriefing with seminar participants on the main lessons learned from the evaluation forms, the participants acquired knowledge that will be useful to them in their professional activities as well as in the roles they could be called upon to play in implementing accounting reforms in their respective countries.
All of the following nine seminar presentations are available in French – see the attachments to today’s blog posting in French:
General Introduction
Accounting reform in the CEMAC zone
Accounting reform in France
Budget accounting and general accounting
International accounting standards applicable to the public sector
The organization of government accounting in Morocco
The organization of government accounting in the CEMAC zone
Modalities for taking into account international accounting standards in the new accounting principles adopted by Morocco
Reporting year-end accounts
