A Ghanaian company must keep proper accounting records and prepare annual financial statements, usually under IFRS or IFRS for SMEs, as the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) and tax law expect. Good bookkeeping means every transaction has a document, a date and an account. Ask your accountant whether an audit applies to your company.
The Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) requires a company to keep accounting records that explain its transactions and show its financial position with reasonable accuracy at any time. The Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) and related tax laws add their own record requirements, and the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) lets the GRA demand documents. For practical purposes, records must be complete, accurate and available on request.
Records include sales invoices, credit notes, purchase invoices, receipts, bank statements, payroll records, fixed asset registers, contracts, board minutes affecting finances and the ledgers themselves. A missing piece is not just untidy: it can mean an expense is disallowed or income is estimated against you.
The retention period for accounting and tax records is set in law. Ask your accountant for the current period, and keep records for that long even after you stop trading, so that an old query can still be answered.
A simple test is to pick a random sale from March and trace it: invoice, ledger entry, bank or wallet receipt, and the VAT return it fed. If any link is missing, the system has a hole that an auditor will find.
Double-entry bookkeeping means each transaction affects at least two accounts: a sale increases revenue and either cash or receivables, a purchase increases an expense or asset and either cash or payables. At any time total debits equal total credits, which gives a built-in check on errors.
A typical small company keeps a general ledger, a sales ledger by customer, a purchases ledger by supplier, a cash and bank book, a fixed asset register and a payroll ledger. Keeping them in accounting software reduces transcription mistakes, but the quality of the output still depends on the quality of the inputs.
Use a stable chart of accounts that your accountant agrees with. Changing account names every year makes comparison impossible. Keep a short written policy for recurring items such as depreciation, provisions and revenue recognition.
Closing each month in a fixed order helps: post sales, post purchases, reconcile bank and wallet, review receivables, then review payables. A one-page checklist stops steps from being skipped.
At year-end, the books are adjusted for accruals, prepayments, depreciation, bad debts and stock, and then summarised into a statement of financial position, a statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, a statement of changes in equity, a statement of cash flows and notes. The framework is normally IFRS, or IFRS for SMEs for suitable entities.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) regulates the profession and issues guidance on the standards. Choose an accountant who is a member in good standing, and agree the timetable for year-end work early, since the busiest weeks for accountants are the same for everyone.
Directors are responsible for approving the statements. Read them, ask questions, and do not sign what you do not understand. The approval date and the signatories are recorded in the minutes.
Plan stock counts and fixed asset checks before year-end rather than during the audit fieldwork. A physical count that differs from the ledger takes time to explain, and the explanation is better found early.
Many companies must have their financial statements audited by an independent auditor, while certain small private companies may qualify for exemptions under conditions in the law. Eligibility turns on size, ownership and type of business, so do not assume you are exempt without checking.
Annual returns are filed with the Registrar General’s Department, and annual income tax returns with the Ghana Revenue Authority. Deadlines and the documents required change over time, so your accountant should maintain a compliance calendar showing each deadline for each entity.
Regulated entities, for example banks, insurers and pension schemes, have additional reporting to their regulators. If your company is licensed, the regulator’s rules sit on top of these basics.
Directors should also expect to answer questions about related-party transactions, loans from shareholders and cash withdrawals. Keep written agreements and approvals so these items can be explained.
The sales ledger should agree with the sequence of invoices you issued. A PDF archive from 4invoices.net helps here: every invoice number can be found, and a gap in numbers can be explained. Link ledger entries to those documents so an auditor can trace from the statement to the invoice.
Purchases need the same discipline. Reference each entry to the supplier’s invoice number, and record the date received. Match payments to invoices so that the payables list represents what you truly owe.
Bank and Mobile Money accounts should be reconciled monthly. Unreconciled items older than a month deserve a written explanation. Auditors regard long-standing unreconciled items as a sign of weak control.
Keep scanned copies of supplier invoices in the same folder structure as the ledger, so that the folder name tells a reviewer where to look.
4softerp.net provides multi-company financial ERP and accounting records. It does not include a Ghana-specific chart of accounts or file statutory accounts, annual returns or tax returns for Ghana. Local filings in the ecosystem are available for Romania only.
That means the tool is a place to keep structured records and produce internal reports, while your accountant prepares the statutory statements and filings. Agree early who exports what, in which format, and by which date each year.
Receipts are kept in a bag and entered at year-end, so nobody trusts the figures during the year.
Record transactions weekly and file the supporting document the same day. Use 4softerp.net for financial records, with entries linked to the invoice PDFs stored in 4invoices.net.
The company has several entities, and costs end up in the wrong set of books.
Keep separate books for each legal entity from day one. 4softerp.net supports multi-company records, but your accountant decides the chart of accounts.
Year-end approaches and the auditor asks for documents that cannot be found.
Create a folder per month with sales, purchases, bank and payroll records, and review it quarterly against the ledger.
Many companies must be audited, but the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) allows exemptions for certain small private companies under conditions. Eligibility depends on size and ownership. Ask your accountant to confirm in writing whether you qualify each year, because the answer can change as the company grows. Do not rely on a friend’s advice here, because size and group structure matter.
Companies normally prepare financial statements under IFRS, or IFRS for SMEs where it is suitable. The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, issues guidance for its members. Your accountant will choose the framework that fits your size and any regulator’s requirements, and apply it consistently from one year to the next.
The law sets minimum retention periods for accounting and tax records, and they may differ by type of document. Ask your accountant or check the Ghana Revenue Authority’s guidance for the current period. Keep records at least that long, even if the company has stopped trading in the meantime. Never discard supporting documents just because the return was filed.
A small business owner can record daily transactions, but year-end adjustments, statutory statements and tax returns are best prepared or reviewed by a qualified accountant. Many owners keep the weekly records themselves and hand a clean file to the accountant, which lowers the fee and the risk of errors. Their checks catch errors that you may not see yourself.
No. 4softerp.net keeps multi-company financial records but has no Ghana-specific chart of accounts and does not file statutory accounts, annual returns or tax returns for Ghana. Use it for structured records and internal reports, and let your accountant prepare and file the statutory documents. The tool does not replace your accountant’s professional judgement.
This page is informational. Confirm requirements with the competent authority; 4b2b tools cover general invoicing and records only.
