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Ardoise includes accounting structured according to the SYSCOHADA chart of accounts, the common accounting framework of the OHADA countries. This section helps you understand how your school records and tracks its finances, without requiring any programming knowledge.

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What is OHADA?

OHADA (the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa) defines accounting rules shared by several countries in West and Central Africa. SYSCOHADA is the accounting system that follows from it: a standardised framework of accounts and financial statements.
Ardoise implements an accounting structure aligned with the SYSCOHADA/OHADA framework. This documentation explains how the software works; it does not constitute accounting or legal advice.

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The essential ideas

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The account

An account is a category that groups together operations of the same kind. For example, all cash receipts are tracked in a “Cash” account, and all salaries in a “Staff costs” account.

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The class and the family

Accounts are organised into classes numbered 1 to 9 (see The accounting classes). Each class groups families of accounts, themselves subdivided into accounts and then sub-accounts.

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The journal

The journal is the history of every accounting entry. Each operation (a payment, an invoice, a payroll run) is recorded there exactly once, in balanced form.

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Debit and credit

Every entry has a debit and a credit of equal amount. In practice:
  • asset and expense accounts increase on the debit side;
  • liability, equity and revenue accounts increase on the credit side.
You do not need to memorise this mechanism: Ardoise applies it automatically from the operations you record.

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The financial year and the period

An accounting year is a reference year (for example 1 January to 31 December). It can be split into periods (often monthly) which are closed as you go (see Financial years and periods).

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Why this structure?

A standardised structure lets your school:
  • know precisely where its money goes and where it comes from;
  • produce structured financial statements, subject to review before filing (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement);
  • make your accountant’s work easier;
  • compare one year with another.
In the rest of this section: