The Accounting System for Natural Persons (SCPP)

In Africa, and more particularly within the OHADA legal space, the existing accounting regulatory framework governs legal entities exclusively. Natural persons-who broadly dominate the economic fabric in Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries-operate in an absolute methodological void, deprived of accountability tools adapted to their realities. This void produces seven documented structural consequences: financial exclusion of informal households, fiscal under-mobilization, heightened vulnerability to corruption and moneylaundering risks, statistical underestimation of real GDP, a structural accountability gap, the absence of dedicated accounting informatization, and a structural deficit in financial literacy. Existing responses-group microfinance, simplified standards for very small enterprises, presumptive tax regimes, and personal-finance applications-each address only part of the problem. This paper proposes the doctrinal and functional framework for a Personal Accounting System (SCPP), grounded in the principles of double-entry bookkeeping adapted to African socioeconomic realities. The framework integrates three accountability systems according to the user's economic profile (Normal, Simplified, Subsistence), a nine-class chart of accounts incorporating African specificities (tontines-rotating community savings-and-credit associations-, biological assets, community solidarity, personal cost accounting), and three original analytical indicators: the Social Pressure Index (IPS), the Residual Living Capacity (RAV), and the SCPP Confidence Score (SCS). The practical implications of the SCPP for financial inclusion through the financial system (commercial banks and MFIs) and for the fiscal transition of the informal sector are analysed. We also submit, in three coordinated annexes, a draft OHADA Uniform Act (AUSCPP), its companion doctrinal application Guide, and the Adaptable Chart of Accounts for Natural Persons (PASCO) intended for international interoperability.