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Operating in the CFA franc zone

The CFA franc zones and OHADA accounting law — where the chart of accounts is prescribed, not chosen.

Guides published
10
Topics covered
1
Markets
14
Currencies
3

What is different about operating here

Seventeen countries share the OHADA commercial code, and with it SYSCOHADA: a prescribed chart of accounts with fixed account classes, not a template you adapt. Two currencies — the XOF in the UEMOA bloc and the XAF in CEMAC — are both pegged to the euro at a fixed rate, which removes FX risk against Europe and leaves it intact against everywhere else. VAT sits at 18% across most of the UEMOA and rises to 19.25% in Cameroon. Software bought here has to speak French and post to a chart it did not design.

Three things that catch teams out

  1. The chart of accounts is law

    SYSCOHADA fixes the account classes. Any system that expects you to invent your own numbering will produce statements an OHADA auditor cannot read, and remapping after go-live means restating every posted journal.

  2. Pegged is not the same as single-currency

    XOF and XAF are both fixed to the euro but not to each other in practice, and neither is fixed to the dollar. An organisation buying in USD and selling in XOF carries real exposure that the peg does nothing to cover.

  3. French is a requirement, not a preference

    A finance team that files in French will not accept an English-only ledger, and machine-translated account labels are worse than none. Interface language belongs on the evaluation scorecard from the first demo.

Tax and currency presets for this region

These are the sales-tax presets AWRA OpsHub ships with, 14 of the 88 countries covered in total. They are headline national rates and a starting point for configuration — reduced, zero-rated and exempt categories still need setting up against your own chart of accounts, and rates change with each finance act.

Market Currency Tax Standard rate
Senegal XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Côte d’Ivoire XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Mali XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Burkina Faso XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Togo XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Benin XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Niger XOF West African CFA franc VAT 19%
Guinea-Bissau XOF West African CFA franc VAT 18%
Guinea GNF Guinean Franc VAT 18%
Cameroon XAF Central African CFA franc VAT 19.25%
Gabon XAF Central African CFA franc VAT 18%
Chad XAF Central African CFA franc VAT 18%
Central African Republic XAF Central African CFA franc VAT 19%
Congo (Republic) XAF Central African CFA franc VAT 18%

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