Cameroon Tells Geneva: Small Firms Are 99% of the Economy, and Weak Accounts Block Their Finance

By Damian Maabo, with field reporting by Clarice Arrey Tarkang and Hugues Djon.

Many companies in Cameroon have no clear picture of their own financial position because they do not produce financial reports, and the problem hits small and medium-sized enterprises hardest, said Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze in Geneva. Speaking at the 43rd session of the Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), he said these enterprises make up more than 99% of the economy. His call: reliable, comparable and useful financial data, and a link between financial reporting, sustainability reporting and skills.

No reports, no visibility

The minister began with a simple diagnosis: the absence of financial reporting means many enterprises in Cameroon do not have a clear view of their own economic position. If a company cannot show clean accounts, a bank or investor cannot assess it, and it struggles to get financing.

ISAR is the expert group on international standards of accounting and reporting. Its stated insistence is on promoting more reliable, comparable and useful financial data.

Connect the dots

Motaze told the meeting that the challenge in implementing standards is felt more by small and medium-sized enterprises, who make up more than 99% of the economy. It therefore becomes necessary, he said, to connect the dots between financial reporting, sustainability reporting and capacity building.

He also pointed to what has to be fixed around the accounts: the legal framework, institutional coordination, and the development of skills and digital systems. The 43rd session is happening against a background of pressing investment gaps, which require credible information to be put at the disposal of lenders.

Why it matters for investors and exporters

For anyone looking at Cameroon as a place to invest, the quality of company accounts is a practical question. It decides whether a bank can lend to a local partner, whether an investor can verify a business, and whether a firm can show buyers abroad that it meets their reporting rules, as farmers have to do in the story on cocoa, coffee and EU rules.

It also connects to the broader push for transparency in this round-up: from the tax exchange of information in the World Bank work on tracking financial assets to the treasury reform in the treasury single account reform. Cameroon's problem, in all these stories, is the same: too much of the economy cannot be seen clearly.

What was on the table in Geneva

The session, held at the Palais des Nations from 30 September to 2 October 2026 under UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), put the accounting and financial reporting needs of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at the top of its agenda, followed by the connection between financial and sustainability reporting. Those are the two subjects the minister tied together, and UNCTAD lists him among the session's speakers.

The issue has a specific shape in Cameroon. Companies there keep their accounts under the OHADA framework shared by 17 African states, so any lighter regime for small firms involves a regional rulebook as well as a national decision. Our reading is that Geneva can supply models and guidance, but the harder work is making bookkeeping cheap enough for a small trader to see a return on it.

What to watch next

Watch for any national plan that follows Geneva: a timetable for simplified reporting standards for small firms, support for digital bookkeeping, and the training of accountants. Those are the measures that would put the minister's words into practice.

Sources and further reading: Ministry of Finance (MINFI), World Bank in Cameroon, UNCTAD: 43rd session of ISAR. Field reporting: Clarice Arrey Tarkang and Hugues Djon. Session details come from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Updated 7 November 2026.

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