AUDCIF and Revised SYSCOHADA 2018: what changed for CFOs and auditors

The context of the revision

The Uniform Act on accounting law and financial reporting (AUDCIF), adopted by the OHADA Council of Ministers in January 2017, replaced the 2000 Uniform Act. Effective date was set at 1 January 2018 for individual financial statements, and 1 January 2019 for consolidated and combined accounts.

OHADA's stated goal was dual: modernising the accounting framework inherited from the original SYSCOHADA, and bringing it closer to IFRS without imposing all of it.

Chart of accounts changes

The general chart of accounts remains organised in 9 classes, with refined sub-accounts. Several accounts were created or redefined to reflect operations that have become common: lease-financing, long-term contracts, financial instruments, foreign-currency hedging transactions.

For accounting teams, the practical consequence is updating account labels and the list of used accounts. A compliant accounting software ships the new nomenclature by default.

Summary financial statements

The balance sheet, the income statement, the sources-and-uses-of-funds statement (TAFIRE) and the notes remain the mandatory summary statements under the standard regime. The minimal cash system (SMT) remains available for small entities.

Notes have been enriched: segment information, related-party transactions, post-balance-sheet events, financial-risk management. The goal is a more complete reading of statements by third parties, especially lenders.

What it changes for the external auditor

For the external auditor, the revision imposes an adapted audit programme. New valuation rules, new accounts, and the expanded scope of notes require additional procedures. Auditors trained on the original SYSCOHADA have had to update their audit guides.

On the audited-entity side, the consequence is a more structured permanent file, with written justifications of valuation choices, accounting estimates and significant operations.

Tooling to stay compliant

An accounting software natively built on Revised SYSCOHADA ships the updated chart of accounts, the reformed summary statements, the structured notes, and the standardised FEC export expected by national tax authorities. That is the difference between a tool built for the OHADA market and a globally configurable one.

Comptia, Procura's accounting module, is built on Revised SYSCOHADA 2018 as its foundation. Entries generated from the procurement cycle are automatically routed to the correct accounts, and statement + FEC exports are ready with no configuration.