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OHADA Accounting Rules

To build compliant financial software for the region, it's essential to understand the legal and technical framework of OHADA.

What is OHADA?​

OHADA (Organisation pour l'Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires) is a system of uniform corporate laws adopted by seventeen West and Central African nations. It was created in 1993 to foster economic growth by providing a modern and secure legal environment for business.

Member States (17 Nations)​

The following countries follow the OHADA accounting standards:

  • 🇧🇯 Benin
  • 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
  • 🇨🇲 Cameroon
  • 🇨🇫 Central African Republic
  • 🇹🇩 Chad
  • 🇰🇲 Comoros
  • 🇨🇬 Congo
  • 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea
  • 🇬🇦 Gabon
  • 🇬🇳 Guinea
  • 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau
  • 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast
  • 🇲🇱 Mali
  • 🇳🇪 Niger
  • 🇸🇳 Senegal
  • 🇹🇬 Togo

The SYSCOHADA Standard​

The SYSCOHADA (Système Comptable OHADA) is the regional chart of accounts. @drcmind/ohada-lib follows the Uniform Act on Accounting Law and Financial Reporting (AUDCIF), specifically the "Revised SYSCOHADA" structure.

Core Principles​

1. The Double Step Constraint (Constatation vs Règlement)​

In SYSCOHADA, you never record a credit transaction directly to cash. You must always:

  1. Constatation: Recognize the debt (Supplier) or claim (Client).
  2. Règlement: Settle the transaction with a monetary account (Cash/Bank).

@drcmind/ohada-lib enforces this by generating two journal entries for sales/purchases with payments.

2. The Golden Rule of Invoices​

Every purchase of goods must pass through account 4011 (Suppliers) to maintain a perfect audit trail, even if paid immediately.

3. Distinct VAT Accounts​

VAT is not a single bucket. It's tracked differently based on the business event:

  • 4431: VAT Collected on Sales.
  • 4452: VAT Recoverable on Goods.
  • 4454: VAT Recoverable on Services.
  • 4451: VAT Recoverable on Assets (Immobilisations).

How the library helps​

Instead of memorizing these account codes, you use natural developer logic:

// The library knows this is a SERVICE and uses account 4454 automatically
ohada.recordExpense({
  category: 'RENT',
  amount: 500000,
  label: "Office Rent"
});

3. Value Added Tax (VAT/TVA)​

The library defaults to the standard OHADA VAT rate of 18%, but this is fully configurable.

  • Recoverable VAT (Purchases): Recorded in account 4452 (for goods) or 4454 (for services).
  • Collected VAT (Sales): Recorded in account 4431 (TVA facturée).

The engine automatically identifies whether an expense is a "Good" or a "Service" to select the correct VAT recovery account.

4. Account Resolution Logic​

Ohada Lib uses a smart resolver to map business labels to accounting codes. For example:

  • A sale labeled as "Goods" will resolve to account 701.
  • An expense labeled "Electricity" will resolve to account 6052.

This abstraction allows you to record transactions using business terminology rather than memorizing the hundreds of codes in the Chart of Accounts.