Background

The SYCEBNL which is the 11th OHADA Uniform Act, was adopted in the 53rd Session of the Council of Ministers of OHADA held on 21st and 22nd of December 2022 in Niamey (Niger).

The SYCEBNL in intended to complement the OHADA Uniform Act on Accounting and Financial information (SYSCOHADA) which was primarily concerned with the Accounting System for profit making entities. Consequently, the SYCEBNL sets out the accounting law and accounting system related to Not-For-profit-Entities having their registered office or carrying out their activities in the territory of an OHADA Member State.

In accordance with its final provisions (Art. 28), the new Uniform Act and the accounting system shall enter into force on the 1st of January 2024.

Scope (Art 1 & 2)

The SYCEBNL concerns all Not-For-profit-Entities having their registered office or carrying out their activities in the territory of an OHADA Member State. They include:

• Associations and professional bodies
• Organisations for the management or administration of development projects financed by Bilateral, Multilateral, private and state funders.

Financial statements to be prepared (Art 4, 5 & 6)

Like SYSCOHADA, the SYCEBNL provides two systems for the presentation of accounts and preparation of annual financial statements comprising the normal system and the minimum treasury system for small entities.

A complete set of financial statements shall comprise:

• For Associations and Professional bodies: The Balance Sheet, The statement of income and expenditure, the Cash flow statement and Notes to the Accounts
• For Development projects: Table of Sources – Uses of funds, Table of Budget Execution, Cash Reconciliation Table, The Balance Sheet, The Operating Account and Notes to the Accounts.

All entities are subject to the normal system for presentation of accounts and preparation of financial statements except small entities having annual resources less than or equal to 30,000,000FCFA (Thirty Million Francs) sourced from Subventions, Contributions, Donations, Resources for Development Projects, Other Revenues and Resources.

If the annual resources are greater than 30,000,000FCFA or the cumulative resources for two years is greater than 30,000,000FCFA, the Entities must prepare their accounts using the Normal system.

Specific requirements

Register of Donors (Art. 17 & 18)

Each Not-for-profit Entity shall establish a register of donors for all the donations and contributions received by the Entity which will be coded, and successively numbered by the competent state authority. This register can be kept in hard copy or electronic copy and all the entries in this register must be signed by the legal representative of the entity.
If an Auditor exist, the Auditor shall submit to the General Assembly, or Project Funders a report on the existence of a register of donors and its conformity to the Uniform Act.
Where the entity has no Auditor, a declaration of the managers attesting to the keeping of a register of donors in conformity with the Uniform Act, shall be presented to the General Assembly or Project funders.

Auditors (Art 19 – 21)

All Not-For-Profit Entities are obliged to appoint an Auditor if they meet one of the following conditions at the end of the financial year:

• A Balance Sheet total greater than 100,000,000 FCFA.
• Annual resources greater than 200,000,000 FCFA.
• Permanent staff greater 20 persons.
  

An entity that does not meet the above criteria can opt to appoint an Auditor. It can also be legally requested by at least 10% of the Members of the Organisations to appoint an Auditor in which the Entity will have no choice but to do so.

The Auditor shall be appointed for a period of 3 financial years renewable once. If the duration of the activity is less than 3 years, the mandate is reduced to match the duration.

Rodrid Akoh E.
Audit Manager