REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Peace – Work - Fatherland REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN Paix – Travail – Patrie
# MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON DATA EXCHANGE
BETWEEN THE UNDERSIGNED
THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
Hereinafter referred to as “MINFI”.
on the one hand,
and
The AUDIT BENCH OF THE SUPREME COURT
Hereinafter referred to as “the CDC/CS”
on the other hand,
Each referred to as “a Party” and both referred to as “the Parties”,
THE PARTIES, PRELIMINARILY DECLARE THAT:
Law No. 2018/11 of 11 July 2018 on the code of transparency and good governance in the management of public finances in Cameroon and Law No. 2018/12 of 11 July 2018 on the fiscal regime of the State and other public entities, adopted by Parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic, guarantee the right to information of the State Audit Institution and establish the obligation of transparency of administrations.
Moreover, they confer jurisdiction upon the Audit Institution in addition to its initial attributions relating to the evaluation of accounts and new missions, namely:
- the control and judgement of authorising officers and financial controllers;
- the evaluation of public policies;
- the report on the execution of the finance laws and on the settlement law under much more demanding conditions than before in terms of time;
- the performance audit of administrations;
- certification of the General Account of the State.
To carry out these new missions, the Audit Bench must adapt its working methods, and in particular move towards the digitalisation of its procedures and exchanges with third parties. In this perspective, the Ministry of Finance is a privileged partner as manager of the network of public accountants, and has a list of public establishments and organisations in which the State has a holding, whether it is a majority or not.
The Audit Bench needs the information stored in the Ministry of Finance's databases as soon as it is validated and available.
Furthermore, the Audit Bench must validate the State's accounts within the time limits set by law. It must therefore possess the information needed to ensure the fairness and reliability of the accounts submitted to it within a reasonable time frame, without waiting for the physical documents to carry out its audit.
Exchanges between these two public entities must therefore be dematerialised as much as possible in order to speed up the transmission of data under optimal security conditions.
The Ministry of Finance also needs information relating to the rendering of accounts, procedures towards public accountants, authorising officers and financial controllers when they are completed. The same applies to the observation reports and opinions issued by the Audit Bench.
In accordance with these objectives, the parties have decided to strengthen digital exchanges in order to reduce delays and eventually eliminate the transmission of paper-based documents, the objective being to enhance the exchange of digital data and facilitate the mission of the Audit Bench.