In order to facilitate bookkeeping in the WAEMU Area, the States of the Union are endeavouring to adopt a new practical guide. It was in this context that a pre-validation workshop for the guide to new accounting standards was opened in Abidjan on Tuesday, 03 May 2022.
Aware of the continuous evolution of accounting standards, and the need to have a uniform chart of accounts, the WAEMU Area is going into action. Meeting since 03 May 2022, the accounting experts of the Union and representatives of the European Union have scrutinized the various articles of the new plan, with a view to finalizing the guide for the application of the WAEMU new accounting standards. It should be noted that the preparation of this guide is part of a major effort to modernize and harmonize the public financial management framework of the WAEMU Member States, in order to improve performance in the implementation of public policies and the transparency of public finances. At the opening of this workshop, Assahoré Konan Jacques, Director General of the Treasury and Public Accounting expressed his gratitude to the WAEMU Commission for having asked the West African Accounting Council (WAAC) to carry out an in-depth analysis of the WAEMU accounting system and suggest a reform that would promote bookkeeping and the preparation of financial statements by each member country of this sub-regional institution.
Referring to the need to ensure the conformity of internal accounting rules and procedures with the provisions of the new WAEMU standards, the Ivorian DG of the Treasury stated that “the development of this draft guide appears as a key step in the continuation of this dynamic aimed at ensuring the conformity of internal accounting rules and procedures with the provisions of the new WAEMU standards”. “It is important, he explains, to recall that in 2009, the WAEMU Council of Ministers adopted six (6) directives whose purpose was to renew the harmonized framework of public finances in the Union. Since then, Côte d ‘Ivoire has committed itself to the transposition and implementation of those reforms into its domestic legislation. As part of the actions undertaken in this direction, there is the accounting standards framework, which replaces the State Accounting Standards contained in the Directive on the State Chart of Accounts within WAEMU was thus developed and validated with the support of our development partners (…) “. Sharing this point of view, Rémi Bardon, in charge of budget support programs and public finance of the European Union delegation, specified: “this new government accounting framework must replace that contained in Directive 9 of the WAEMU on the State Chart of Accounts currently in force. It consists of 8 titles and 26 accounting standards contained in a new directive called the State Financial Accounting Directive (SFAD) which will very soon be the accounting reference for the implementation of the general accounting of the State in the WAEMU Area “.
