The revised SYSCOHADA tax package is the set of summary financial statements an OHADA company must produce at closing: the balance sheet, the income statement, the cash flow statement (TFT), the statement of changes in equity (TVCP), and the notes that explain each line. It is the deliverable that stands as evidence before the tax authority and third parties. Here is its detailed composition, why it costs weeks of manual work, and how to generate it automatically from your trial balance.

What the SYSCOHADA package contains

The revised SYSCOHADA framework (Uniform Act of 26 January 2017, applicable to individual accounts since 1 January 2018) requires, for the normal system, a package structured into five blocks:

1. The balance sheet

A snapshot of net worth at the closing date. It sets assets (fixed assets, inventory, receivables, cash) against liabilities and equity (equity, financial debt, operating payables). The SYSCOHADA balance sheet presents assets in GROSS, DEPRECIATION/IMPAIRMENT and NET: a forgotten depreciation column skews the entire fixed-asset section.

2. The income statement

It explains the formation of the result for the year from revenues (class 7) and expenses (class 6), organized by nature and by intermediate balances (value added, gross operating surplus, operating result, financial result, net result).

3. The cash flow statement (TFT)

The TFT (sometimes called TAFIRE in the old system) traces where cash comes from and where it goes: operating flows, investing flows, financing flows. It links the accounting result to the actual change in cash: a formidable consistency check.

4. The statement of changes in equity (TVCP)

It explains how equity evolved between opening and closing: contributions, result for the year, distributions, reserves.

5. The notes

This is the explanatory heart of the package. The normal system has 35 notes, some split into sub-notes (3A to 3F for fixed assets, 16A to 16C for financial debts…). They detail each line: fixed assets and depreciation, inventory, receivables and payables by maturity, capital, provisions, off-balance-sheet commitments, headcount, and so on. Each note must be consistent with the balance sheet and income statement: for example, the total of a fixed-asset note must equal the corresponding balance sheet line.

Why it is the most time-consuming part

Producing this package by hand (or in a spreadsheet) is a marathon:

  • Each note is reassembled from account balances: a line-by-line reconciliation job.
  • The smallest last-minute entry breaks consistency: you must redo the balance sheet, the note concerned, sometimes the TFT.
  • The balancing controls (note total = balance sheet line, Σ maturities = balance, note closing = opening + increases − decreases) must be redone at each iteration.

Result: in many SMEs, the package ties up the accounting firm for several weeks at year-end, with error risk proportional to the number of manual redos.

The accounting invariants to respect

A correct package always satisfies these controls:

  • Assets = Liabilities + Equity (the balance sheet balances).
  • Total of a note = the balance sheet line it details.
  • Σ of maturities in a schedule note = balance of the account.
  • Closing of a movement table = Opening + Increases − Decreases (fixed assets, depreciation, provisions).
  • Net cash in the TFT = the actual change in cash on the balance sheet.

If even one of these controls fails, the package is wrong: even if each statement “looks fine” in isolation.

How SynkriaOps generates the package

SynkriaOps produces the revised SYSCOHADA financial statements from your entries, with no re-keying:

  • Balance sheet, income statement, TFT and TVCP generated automatically, with the correct GROSS/DEPR/NET presentation on assets.
  • The 35 notes computed from the accounts (each note reads the right accounts), with the ability to adjust a cell, add manual lines and write the note texts in French and English.
  • Import of the previous year’s texts so you do not start from scratch each year.
  • Drill-down line → detail: click a balance sheet amount to see the entries that compose it.
  • Versioned generation with history, and exports for filing.

Because the notes are recomputed from the entries, a last-minute entry updates the whole package: the balance sheet, the affected note and the TFT stay consistent. Year-end work focuses on review and texts, no longer on copying figures.

Normal system and minimal cash-basis system

Revised SYSCOHADA does not require the same package from every company. It mainly distinguishes two systems by size:

  • The normal system: the complete package described in this article: balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and the notes. It applies to companies above the thresholds of the minimal system.
  • The minimal cash-basis system (SMT): a lightened arrangement reserved for very small entities whose turnover stays below a threshold set by the framework. Accounting there is kept essentially on a receipts-and-payments basis, with simplified statements.

The practical point: a company that grows may switch from the SMT to the normal system. It is better to use a tool that produces the full normal-system package from the start, so you do not end up rebuilding the entire history the day the threshold is crossed. SynkriaOps produces both: the normal-system package and the SMT statements, depending on the system chosen for the year.

In summary

The revised SYSCOHADA package (balance sheet, income statement, TFT, TVCP and notes) is the summary deliverable that stands as evidence, and the most costly to produce by hand because of the dozens of consistency controls to maintain. Generated from the entries, with notes that recompute themselves, it no longer takes weeks of manual copying.

The help centre details the tax package and notes, the balance sheet and closing the fiscal year.

The full bundle path, version by version, is described on the Prepare your DSF page. If your books are still in other software, read Preparing your DSF for free from your general ledger.

To generate your package and your notes from your entries, start free on SynkriaOps.