Chart of Accounts of the Haitian State, Version 1.0
- The document is two volumes, and the first one carries the weight. Volume I sets out accounting standards, twenty of them, and Volume II the annotated chart of accounts. The preamble is explicit about why: a chart of accounts is indispensable but does not by itself guarantee that the information produced is fit for accountability, resource-allocation decisions or political and social use. It is the standards that fix how operations are treated and make figures comparable over time and across countries.
- The standards are recognizably accrual and asset-based rather than cash-based. They cover products and charges, the state's financial support operations, fixed assets, depreciation, impairment of non-revenue-generating assets, assets under construction, participations, inventories, borrowing costs, leases, provisions for risks and charges, and foreign-currency operations. Component depreciation is required where a component's cost is significant relative to the total.
- The reporting standards define what the state must publish, not only how it must record. They cover the financial statements of the Haitian state, the cash-flow statement, budget information annexed to the financial statements, off-balance-sheet commitments, general notes, post-closing events, and the opinion on the financial statements. Annex C carries model financial reports: a statement of financial position, and a statement of financial performance in two versions, classified by functional sector and by nature of charge.
- The scope reaches beyond the central budget. Annex A covers annexed budgets and special accounts, Annex B lists the state's autonomous bodies, and Annex E provides model budget reports, so the instrument is drafted for consolidated public accounting rather than for the general budget alone.
- Several valuation rules are stated in a form that bears on published figures: foreign-currency debt is converted to gourdes on a defined basis, depreciation runs at the rate set by legislation from the date the asset is placed in service, provisions are constituted from the moment a risk arises, and a holding of 20 percent of voting rights is treated as the threshold for the participation rules.
- Version 1.0 is dated 27 October 2023, so this is the first edition of the instrument and dates from before the opening-balance-sheet strategy that depends on it.
The stated purpose of this chart of accounts is to supply a complete annotated nomenclature of accounts so that the State's financial operations can be recorded in an orderly way and its annual accounts drawn up and presented. Its preamble is careful about what a chart of accounts can and cannot do: having one is indispensable, but it does not by itself guarantee that the information reaching users is fit for judging accountability, allocating resources, or political and social purposes - that depends on the accounting standards which set out the rules to be applied, allow financial information to be compared over time and across countries. The document is accordingly organized in two volumes, the first being the nomenclature itself. It is the reference instrument for the accrual-accounting reform: the Law on the Preparation and Execution of Finance Laws (LEELF) commits the State to accrual accounting, and the new integrated financial management system (SIGFIP) is parameterised to it. Version 1.0 supersedes the 2005 General Chart of Accounts of the State (PCGE), which the corpus also holds.
How to cite
Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), 2023, Chart of Accounts of the Haitian State, Version 1.0, https://ocpah.ht/wp-content/uploads/Plan_Comptable_Etat_V_1_27-10-2023.pdf