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The Accounting and Audit Environment

The Accounting and Audit Environment

Accounting Regulations

The main source of accounting regulations in Tunisia is law n°96-112 of 30 December 1996 concerning the company accounting system and professional practices.

Accounting standards include a general accounting standard, technical standards and sectorial standards.

Early in 2010 the Tunisian authorities have declared their intention to have the Tunisian accounting standards migrated towards the IFRS standards by 2014. The president of the Governing body of Chartered Accountants, is also keen to adopt the IAS-IFRS standards.

The accounting profession in Tunisia is organized within the framework of two professional corporations (The Order of Chartered Accountants in Tunisia, and the Company of Accountants in Tunisia) and governed by law n°88-108 of 18 August 1988 bearing an overhaul of the legislation relative to the profession of Chartered Accountant and by law n° 2002-16 of 4 February 2002.

The comptable (accountant) is responsible for the legal obligations of the company as regards accounting.

The expert-comptable (chartered accountant) certifies company accounts.
The commissaire aux comptes (auditor) certifies the accounts carried out by the chartered accountant (for companies with more than 50 employees, joint-stock companies and public limited companies).

Audit Requirements

Accounting standards in Tunisia are prepared by the National Accounting Council and enacted by orders from the minister of finance. These standards provide the format and rules of financial reporting, as well as recognition, measurement rules of transactions, and events and disclosure requirements.
 
The Tunisian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAPs) were established in 1996 to be compliant with international accounting concepts and standards in force at that time.

Now, Tunisian GAAPs have differences in several areas in comparison with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The most significant differences concern the financial services sector as the Tunisian accounting standards have no equivalent rules to IAS 32, lAS 39, IFRS 7 and IFRS 9 regarding financial instruments.

Beyond financial services specific consideration, Tunisian accounting standards depart from IFRS in other areas, such as income taxes, segment reporting, employee benefits, fair value valuation of assets and foreign exchange transactions.
 
Companies must have their financial statements audited.
 
Statutory audits are performed by independent auditors who must be members of one of the two professional bodies: the Board of Chartered Accountants of Tunisia (Ordre des Experts Comptables de Tunisie, OECT) or the Accountants Board of Tunisia ( Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie).

The auditors are appointed by the shareholders’ general meeting for a three-year-period mandate The auditor must be member of the OECT if two limits relating to the balance sheet total (TD1.5m),the total revenues (TD2,000,000) or the average number of employees (50) are met. Some engagements are reserved for OECT members by specific texts (public companies, banks, investment funds, insurance companies and companies listed on the stock exchange).