(2005-05) Decree on the General Regulations of Public Accounting
Summary — Signed by President Provisoire Boniface Alexandre and published in Le Moniteur No. 38 (19 May 2005), this foundational decree operationalizes the 16 February 2005 organic law on the preparation and execution of finance laws by establishing Haiti's general public-accounting system, designating the Directeur du Trésor as the state's principal accountant, and separating the roles of ordonnateurs (spending authorizers) and comptables (accountants).
Key Findings
- Establishes a unified, single public-accounting system covering the entire Haitian public sector.
- Designates the Directeur du Trésor as the state's sole principal accountant, responsible for accounting rules, financial-information systems and public-sector national accounts.
- Requires annual state accounts to be submitted to the Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif for a conformity ruling.
- Separates ordonnateurs (spending authorizers, classified principal/delegated/secondary) from comptables (accountants) as legally incompatible roles.
- Requires each ministry to submit a detailed annual asset inventory (as of 30 September) to the Finance Minister and CSCCA by 31 October.
Full Description
Building on a long chain of prior Haitian public-finance texts dating to 1870 and the 1987 reorganization of MEF, the Office du Budget and the Customs Code, this decree establishes public accounting as covering all principles, norms, services and techniques used to compile, process and present transactions affecting the public sector's patrimony, with four objectives: systematic recording of all public-sector transactions, timely financial data for decision-makers, information presented to facilitate internal and external audit, and integration of public-sector data into the national accounts system. The system is designed to be unique and common to the entire national public sector, to track the relationship between budget execution, treasury and patrimony, to determine costs of public-sector operations, and to follow generally accepted public accounting principles. The Directeur du Trésor is designated as the governing authority of the public accounting system, responsible for issuing accounting rules, methods, periodicity and financial-statement formats, providing technical guidance to public entities, maintaining a financial information system tracking budget execution and treasury position, compiling national public-sector economic accounts, and archiving public financial documents; annual state accounts (a general balance, comparison of budgeted vs. realized revenue and expenditure, debt position, and results accounts) are produced by the Minister of Finance and submitted to the Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif for a conformity ruling. The decree separates ordonnateurs (who authorize revenue and expenditure) from comptables (who execute payment and custody functions) as incompatible roles; ordonnateurs are classified as principal (the Minister of Finance, centrally, plus heads of the executive, legislative, judicial branches, independent institutions and territorial collectivities), delegated, and secondary, each accredited to the Minister of Finance or their delegates and to the relevant public accountants. Each government ministry must submit an annual detailed inventory of movable and immovable assets to the Finance Minister and the Cour Supérieure des Comptes by 31 October each year, based on a 30 September cutoff, and unauthorized interference in the management of public funds is subject to legal sanction.