Public Finance, Budget and Accounting Basics
This domain tests the budget cycle, the separation between the officer who decides and the accountant who pays, and the principles that structure the finance law. It is the finance counterpart of the social security collection chain.
The framework
- The organic finance law (Loi organique 18-15, replacing 84-17) introduces programme budgeting, performance objectives and indicators, a pluriannual expenditure framework, transparency and accountability.
- The loi de finances is voted by Parliament before the start of the year and authorises revenue and expenditure.
- Classic principles: annuality, unity, universality, specialty of credits, budgetary equilibrium, sincerity, non-compensation. Specialty means a credit voted for a purpose cannot be spent on another.
The expenditure chain
- Engagement (the ordonnateur creates the obligation) → liquidation (verifies the service was delivered and the amount) → ordonnancement (orders payment) → paiement (the comptable public pays).
- The ordonnateur and the comptable public are different persons; this separation protects public funds.
- A priori control by the financial controller, a posteriori control by the Cour des comptes and the general finance inspectorate.
- Two accountings coexist: budget accounting and general accounting; the Treasury keeps a single account structure.
Revenue
- Main taxes: IRG, IBS, TVA at 19% (9% reduced rate), consumption taxes, registration duties, collected by the tax directorate through the monthly G50 return.
- Social contributions are collected by the CNAS under Loi 83-14, not by the tax administration - a favourite cross-domain distinction.
Worked example
A ministry must buy twelve vehicles at 3,000,000 DZD each. It first checks that the credit line is available and specialised for vehicle purchase; it engages 36,000,000; delivery is verified and the expenditure liquidated; the ordonnateur issues the ordonnancement; the comptable public pays after checking regularity. If the line holds only 18,000,000, the purchase cannot be split to bypass the rule - the programme must be revised.
Traps that cost marks
Letting the ordonnateur pay directly; treating a credit as fungible across programmes; confusing taxes with social contributions; ignoring the prohibition on splitting expenditure to avoid a threshold.
Key points
- Loi organique 18-15: programme budget, performance, pluriannual framework.
- Chain: engagement, liquidation, ordonnancement, paiement.
- Separation of ordonnateur and comptable public is a cardinal rule.
- Cour des comptes and IGF control after the fact; the financial controller before.
- TVA 19% standard, 9% reduced; G50 monthly return.
- Social contributions are collected by CNAS, not the tax administration.