A Chart of Accounts (COA)  is also known as a General Ledger or a master list  of posting  accounts.

SCOA is an acronym for a Standard Chart of Accounts  which is a National reform that has been promulgated by Gazette No. 37577 dated 22 April 2014, called the  Standard Chart of Accounts for Local Government Regulations,2014. The "m” in the acronym distinguishes between a Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts and a Provincial/National Standard Chart of Accounts.

The Regulation on mSCOA indicates that it affects all Municipalities and their entities.

1. Aid transparency; accountability and overall governance in the daily; monthly and yearly activities of municipalities;

    

2. Aid the standardization of  278 different municipal ‘charts of accounts’ (COA ) ;

    

3. Improve the quality of municipal information that is compromised ,i.e.it will introduce an  uniform classification of revenue and expenditure items ;

    

4. Enhance monitoring and oversight by Councils,  DCoG, Treasuries and legislatures;

    

5. Comparability of information across Municipalities, i.e. Benchmarking, standards and measures

No, mSCOA will not affect any payment owed by you/to you. Its aim is to standardise how all Municipalities classify their financial data, i.e. it introduces a standardised classification of a Chart of Accounts (General Ledger) across   all  Municipalities .

In order to facilitate the identification of  which General Ledger posting account to use when processing an Invoice from your company ,the Description on the Invoice that is submitted to the NMBM for goods delivered/services rendered must be detailed and accurate, i.e. do not use descriptions like "Services Rendered/Miscellaneous Work done/Various,” etc. The exact description of what goods were delivered or services rendered must appear on each Invoice.

To view the Regulation click on the document Library icon above, select the Regulations folder and click on the Municipal Regulations on Standard Chart of Accounts file or click on the following link :

http://www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/datarepository/documents/01-municipal-regulations-onstandard-chart-of-accounts-gazet.pdf

Please send any question(s)/comment(s)   to "Talk To Trevor (CFO)” at  TTT@mandelametro.gov.za