Accounting & Bookkeeping

If you are looking for expansion opportunities, manage or optimize the cost of business operations in Libya then Ahmed Ghattour & Co can help you because we understand the challenges and dynamic complexities that your companies may face in Libya:

1. Inconsistent management reporting systems
2. Inefficient finance functions, such as operating without control or governance
3. Inflexible solutions that are slow to reflect your changing business requirements
4. Lack of available local resources to support your growing accounting needs

Ahmed Ghattour & Co provides a high quality, flexible approach, tailored to your specific accounting needs. At Ahmed Ghattour & Co, we will provide you with a complete solution managed by our dedicated team.

Accountancy

Ahmed Ghattour & Co keeps track of your financial transactions and gathers crucial information for optimizing your compliance with taxation laws. At Ahmed Ghattour & Co, we monitor the effectiveness and reliability of your systems, internal controls, and highlighting any areas where improvements can be applied. Our services include:

1. Advice on minimizing your tax liability
2. Advice on risk management
3. Compliance review of your existing policies
4. Identifying and assessing risks
5. Implementing and testing internal controls

Accounting Records

• Libyan laws require that all business entities in Libya maintain a ledger and journal in Arabic language.
• Revenue stamps must be on each page before use and must be registered at the commercial court.
• If there are any entries on this book they will not be registered.
• It follows that existing books of accounts cannot be registered and transactions prior to registration of the books are disallowed, the books are required to be written up daily, however in reality, the majority of the companies tend to write up their books on a monthly basis from daily transactions’ summaries.

Note

• In practice, it is found that this approach is acceptable by the inspectors.

Bookkeeping

Quality bookkeeping is vital to any business. At Ahmed Ghattour & Co we make it our objective to ensure that as a trusted partner, the financial transactions and records of your company are kept secure, up-to-date, and accurate. By leveraging its bookkeeping capabilities, Ahmed Ghattour & Co can help reduce the costs of your routine accounting processes, allowing you to focus on growing and improving the efficiency of your business. From the beginning, Ahmed Ghattour & Co is focused on understanding your unique business needs and evaluates your existing accounting workflows and processes.

Accounting Principles

Libyan corporate law requires that a company keeps proper books of accounts to explain its transactions. Financial statements are required to follow the provisions of the Libyan commercial code. In practice, this means that financial statements are prepared according to the international standards with some specific variants. Thus, financial statements would include:

1. Directors’ report
2. Profit and loss account (Income Statement)
3. Balance Sheet
4. Cash flow statement
5. Control committee report

Notes

• Financial statements of foreign companies are required to be audited by qualified auditors annually.

Arabic Language for documentation

• The books of accounts must have entries in the Arabic language only on pages that have been stamped by the Revenue Department.
• The books can be written in other languages, if so desired, on the left-hand pages.
• The book has to be kept meticulously, once a page is started no lines should be left out, every entry must be cross-referenced, and a double-entry system must be maintained.
• If the book is being written in another language as well as in Arabic, it would be advisable that entries first be made in the foreign language and then translated and transcribed on the right-hand pages in Arabic.

Notes

• Inconsistencies between the right-hand and left-hand pages of the book often result in disputes with the Tax Department.
• The tax inspector always requests sight of the statutory books of account.

Support Services

Ahmed Ghattour & Co provides full range of accounting services and support including:

• Designing and establishing a reporting mechanism
• Analyzing and processing the expenses incurred on monthly/quarterly/yearly basis
• Answer all inquiries related to the client’s accounting and bookkeeping process
• Booking all transactions based on the supporting documents and contracts received
• Creation of charts of accounts in line with clients reporting requirements
• Maintain the accounting cycle and prepare the required documents
• Preparation of annual and periodic financial statements in accordance with Libyan Laws
• Preparation of fixed assets register, accounts receivable and payable management
• Prepare the reporting statements such as balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.

Ahmed Ghattour & Co can not only advise on how best to comply with Libyan regulations, but it also helps you appreciate the consequences of non-compliance and deliver day-to-day accounting activities to ensure your documents remain compliant. Ahmed Ghattour & Co is committed to delivering high-quality accounting services with utmost precision and punctuality. The result is a consistent and centrally coordinated service that reduces the risks of non-compliance.