Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FIVE: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________decree specifies that the approved management centre cannot carry outfinancial audit assignments for members whose accounts it keeps. However, itmay carry out sectoral studies and project appraisal assignments for them.ii.Conclusions of the CRM530. Disclosure of regulations. Even though Benin has ratified most internationalconventions, and public authorities are making efforts to make the conventionsand laws known, their application does not always follow. This applies mainlyto the Single Act of OHADA, which Benin‟s legal system is increasinglytrying to integrate but which is not yet completely accepted by all players inBenin‟s economy.531. Accounting standards. As far as accounting standards are concerned, Beninrecently created the O.EC.C.A-Bénin, which should organise the chartered andcertified accountancy profession and guarantee the accuracy of accounts ofbusiness enterprises. The auditors swear an oath, after which they areauthorised by the courts to operate. Despite the efforts to harmonise theaccounting and auditing standards with international standards throughSYSCOHADA, the practices are not in line with the directives that are inplace.532. Efforts to comply with International Accounting Standards are thwarted byproblems of regional coordination. Indeed, West and Central Africa aredivided into two „accounting blocks‟ and three „legal blocks‟:The first block comprises West African countries that are members ofWAEMU. The National Accounting Firms Association plays asupranational role in it, and is expected to consider evolving towardsinternational standards.The second block, that of Central African countries, has not adopted thissupranational approach.533. The three legal blocks, which overlap and involve Benin, are: the blockcomprising WAEMU countries; the block of countries that have adhered toOHADA (including Central and West African countries, and with componentsthat go beyond the accounting system); and lastly, the block of ECOWAScountries (including West African Francophone and Anglophone countries).534. SYSCOA has been applied in WAEMU since 1 January 1998 and, therefore,comprises only West Africa. With the creation of OHADA, which covers amuch wider regional framework, a new OHADA Single Act was adopted on24 March 2000 to organise and harmonise SYSCOHADA. However, unlikeSYSCOA, which hinges on BCEAO, a specific supranational body was notcreated – although such a body would have been of enormous assistance to the16 Francophone countries of OHADA. According to a representative of theO.EC.C.A-Bénin, the promoters of OHADA merely took the Frenchaccounting system and introduced some innovations to SYSCOA. In so doing,they paid more attention to relations with France than to matters of economic187