The West African Accounting And Accounting Comparative Study

The scarcity of literature on Africa in China, especially in the area of accounting, encouraged me to make a contribution to the dissemination of the Western African accounting system (Syscoa) practiced in the West African Union Economic and Monetary Zone.The high economic growth, the capital internationalization and the exportation of Chinese technology to rest the world, especially to African countries, together with the needs of Chinese company managers and accounting students to know about the nature of the economic and accounting organization in West African countries, were the inspirational factors for this paper.The French 'plan comptable' was introduced in Francophone Western Africa after the Second World War and the state was strongly involved in its implementation [Mommen, 1957, CNC, 1957].Western African countries are familiar with standardized charts of accounts. Practices in these countries have been quite divergent, however, ranging from the voluntary adoption of schemes developed by professionals or associations to state-imposed charts. In the development of these schemes, France's accounting code has played an important role, particularly from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.Business charts of accounts are an invaluable tool for controlling the recording and processing of financial transactions and events. This paper traces the development of perhaps the most detailed accounting in Francophone Western African countries, contained in the SYSCOA plan, from its origins through an initial French Plan Comptable General (PCG) 1957 " General Accounting Plan 1957", to its most recent revision in 1987. The paper explores, in particular, the reasons behind decision of the Francophone Western African countries to establish the first peacetime PCG in 1957 and to make a substantive revision in 1982.The paper argues that certain features of the economies of Francophone Western African countries make them countries which could derive some benefits from adopting a regional standard chart of accounts of the kind used in France.