In Cameroon, the audit of public accounts continues to face persistent opacity challenges. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Audit Court only managed to trace 3% of all state subsidies granted to public enterprises. This figure, highlighted in its report on budget execution, underscores the severe information deficit hindering financial auditors in their certification duties.
Report exposes flaws in public transfer traceability
The financial jurisdiction, responsible for the judicial review of state and public entity accounts, relies on supporting documents provided by spending authorities and beneficiary entities. Yet, out of the total financial support allocated in 2024 to Cameroon’s public portfolio, only a minimal fraction could be linked to a clearly identified recipient with documented execution. The remaining 97% essentially fall outside the financial magistrates’ verification scope.
This statistic is far from trivial. It strikes at the heart of a structural governance issue: the state’s ability to monitor how resources transferred to its entities are used. State-owned companies, public administrative establishments, and majority or strategic participation entities receive substantial annual funding, often framed as balance subsidies, investment allocations, or tariff compensations.
A financially strained public sector
Cameroon’s parapublic sector encompasses dozens of companies operating in critical sectors such as energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agribusiness, and water. Many depend structurally on state financial support to sustain operations or meet obligations, as seen with entities like the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), Camair-Co, or Sonara, whose financial woes frequently require high-level state interventions.
Amid tight public finances and the need to keep the budget deficit within International Monetary Fund (IMF) thresholds under the ongoing program, controlling the subsidy channel has become a public policy imperative. The Washington-backed economic and financial program specifically emphasizes transparency in flows between the Treasury and public entities—a prerequisite for credible consolidation trajectory management.
The Supreme Audit Court’s findings emerge even as Yaoundé has pledged, as part of public finance management reforms, to enhance the reporting of accounting information from public enterprises. The creation in 2017 of a dedicated directorate within the Ministry of Finance to oversee the state portfolio was meant to bolster this supervision, but tangible results remain elusive.
A sovereignty issue at stake
Beyond mere accounting, the inability to document the destination and actual use of nearly all public subsidies undermines several strategic initiatives. It weakens parliamentary debate on the final account law, diminishes the Supreme Court’s early warning function, and deprives multilateral lenders—particularly the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB)—of a reliable basis for sizing budgetary support.
For private investors engaged in public-private partnerships or concession agreements with Cameroonian public entities, this opacity adds another layer of risk. Sovereign credibility now hinges on the robustness of internal controls governing budget transfers. That said, by publishing this assessment, the Supreme Audit Court fulfills its watchdog role and publicly underscores the need for compliance.
The message to the executive is unambiguous: without substantial improvements in information reporting, state account certification will remain a partial exercise. This requires standardizing accounting frameworks across public enterprises, strengthening budget information systems, and rigorously enforcing penalties against delinquent leaders.
