Strategy for an Opening Balance Sheet in the Move from Cash to Accrual Accounting
- The move to accrual accounting is a statutory obligation, not an administrative preference. Article 62 of the law on the preparation and execution of budget laws (LEELF) requires public accountants to keep the general accounts of the state describing its assets and financial position, in double entry and on an accrual basis, so the opening balance sheet is what makes that article operable.
- The reform is being sequenced with two other changes that depend on it: a new chart of accounts for the Haitian state (PCEH) and the SIGFIP integrated public financial management system, which the note says is fully configured on accrual principles. A financial information system parameterized for accruals cannot open without balances to open with, which is why the balance-sheet exercise sits on the critical path.
- Capacity is being bought in from the profession rather than built alone. DGTCP has a partnership with the Haitian institute of chartered professional accountants (OCPAH) covering training on the new chart of accounts and technical assistance both for clearing accounts and for establishing the opening balance sheet.
- The first balance sheet is explicitly partial by design, concentrating on accounts with high financial stakes, with other elements identified progressively. Assets to be brought in over time include tangible fixed assets such as administrative buildings and infrastructure.
- Balances are to be graded rather than asserted, on a three-level scale: A for a fully justified balance, B for a partially justified balance, C for an estimated balance. That scale is the honest part of the exercise, because it lets a first balance sheet be published with its own reliability marked on it.
- The work is organized as a risk register by account object with named teams. The note's annex assigns objects such as salary advances at MEF, MPCE and DGB, BNC advances, BRH and BNC cash holdings, guarantee funds, checks in circulation, revenue collected on behalf of third parties including pensions withheld by DGI, guarantees, insurance bodies and ONA, other non-financial debts and provisions for risks to teams numbered 2 to 5, with several objects marked as still requiring a team to be formed.
Through the Law on the Preparation and Execution of Finance Laws (LEELF), the Haitian State committed itself to accrual accounting: article 62 requires public accountants to keep the general accounts of the State in double entry and on an accruals basis, so as to describe the State's assets and its financial position. Two further moves follow from that choice - a new chart of accounts, and a new integrated public financial management system (SIGFIP) parameterised for accrual accounting. This note addresses the step that makes the transition operable.
An opening balance sheet is obligatory, because it records at a given date the State's real patrimonial position, bringing in all the assets, liabilities and commitments that cash accounting had captured only partly or not at all; it is the accounting, budgetary and institutional starting point for accrual accounting proper. To support the Direction Générale du Trésor et de la Comptabilité Publique in that work, a partnership was established with the Ordre des Comptables Professionnels Agréés d'Haïti covering training of practitioners in the new chart of accounts and technical assistance on cleaning up the accounts and establishing the opening balance sheet. The note goes on to fix the official changeover date and the steps to reach it.
How to cite
Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF); Ordre des Comptables Professionnels Agréés d'Haïti (OCPAH), 2026, Strategy for an Opening Balance Sheet in the Move from Cash to Accrual Accounting, https://ocpah.ht/wp-content/uploads/Strategie-de-Bilan-dOuverture_-Version_-1er-Juillet-2026.pdf