ACP AUDITORS

Accueillir des Sociétés "Middle Market" Etrangères dans leur Implantation ou Développement

Let us be your reliable partner

You are either establishing a new business in Africa or have already done so. Alternatively you may have acquired a Africa company recently or in the past. Dynamic businesses are in constant need of focused professional services to maintain the momentum of their development.

ACP Auditors and In Extenso, its subsidiary specializing in SME’s, have teams that can provide a comprehensive range of innovative solutions to support businesses from inception to maturity and beyond. We aim to work with clients to produce proactive and practical proposals designed to add value to your business and to minimize risk.

Our teams are led by partners dedicated to helping you, your investors and your employees realize their objectives and maximize their success. They have a wealth of regulatory environment and understand what is required to allow business to succeed in Africa.

You will find hereafter some of the key services that we believe will be of interest to you:

• Accounting & Administrative Compliance
• Financial reporting & Audit
• Financial Planning
• Tax & Legal Advice
• Expansion & Realising Value
• Management Information & Mitigating Risk

Accounting and Administrative Compliance

As in all countries, you will find that Africa has its own procedures and compliance regulations for company accounting and administration. We have designed a full range of services aimed at satisfying the African legal and fiscal obligations and providing for your internal reporting requirements.

• Every client is the personal responsibility of one of our partners who will appoint an account manager, chosen from amongst our senior qualified accountants. They will have full access to specialists in our organisation, as and when needed.
• We can help you to set up a chart of accounts which conforms to Africa regulations, help maintain the regular bookkeeping if you wish, produce your management accounts and group reporting packages, and complete your tax returns.
• We can advise on accounting procedures applicable in Africa and on how to convert them into generally accepted accounting standards for your home country in order to ensure that your group consolidation is properly performed.
• We can also assist with all employee related administration and will provide up-to-date advice on employment regulations in Africa.

Financial Planning

To run a company effectively, you need to be able to plan for the impact of the various actions you have undertaken and their consequences on the financial situation of your company.

• We can help you put together your financial and operating reports, and assist you with monitoring financial transactions (eg: debt covenant compliance).
• We can help you create a local business plan, determine the financial resources required, and provide the financial analysis whenever strategic decisions have to be taken.
• We can also provide assistance with the capital structure of your business and advise on the statutory formalities required if you wish to increase or decrease the equity.
• We can provide advice on financing international trade, obtaining government assistance and foreign exchange transactions.

Tax and Legal Advice

Whether you are establishing a business in Africa or buying one, you want to be sure that you have the best legal and fiscal arrangements for your specific needs. We can provide advice through people who know the systems in both your home country as well as in Africa and can explain matters in a context that will be familiar to you.

• We will help you select the optimal legal structure for your Africa business and explain the appropriate management structure to accompany it.
• In order to register a company, we can prepare the memorandum / incorporation charter and articles of association in both African and your home language. In the case of an acquisition, we can modify them to accord with your requirements.
• Our fiscal experts will recommend the best possible corporate tax structure and can advise on profit repatriation and loss reliefs.
• On an ongoing basis, our tax team will seek tax optimisation for you, making sure that you are aware of all the latest changes in African fiscal procedures. We can also advise on dealing with tax compliance inspections and negotiating the outcomes with the authorities.
• On an ongoing basis, our legal team will establish the various documents and deeds required for annual company administration and give you all the advice you may need for conducting your business in Africa, eg: on commercial, property and employment matters.

Expansion and Realising Value

If you decide to acquire a African company our corporate finance department can assist you. The experience of our consultants is based on a large number of transactions in a great variety of industries.

• We can help you develop an expansion strategy and identify and evaluate target acquisitions in Africa.
• We can carry out due diligence investigations in order to identify the risks and rewards associated with each target, or alternatively analyse information made available by businesses put up for sale.
• Our methods are adapted to the African market, which allows us to make comparisons within the African marketplace and to propose suitable deal structures. We can advise on complex technical issues such as deferred consideration, earn out deals, minimising warranties and indemnities etc.
• In due course we can assist with raising public finance or with preparing the business for divestment. We can also help you to dispose of non-core activities and advise on restructurings along the way.

Management Information and Migrating Risk

Changing systems is the opportunity to optimise the management information available and at the same time build in controls to protect the business.

• We can help you establish reporting tools to monitor the key financial performance indicators and produce a balanced scorecard for a wider view of your African business.
• Our specialists can set up your systems, from local network installations through to internet links to mainframe servers hosted in your own country or at a shared service centre. Depending on your needs and systems, we can help you choose and implement the most appropriate software, tailored for use in Africa.
• In Africa there are accounting and fiscal requirements which will not necessarily conform with your group's standards and practices: we can help you to set up an appropriate reporting package for control or consolidation purposes.
• Through detailed reviews of the financial accounting and reporting systems, we can map your internal control environment, identify risks that can lead to a breakdown in processing and monitoring controls, help you to prevent fraud, and provide sound advice on corporate governance.