The network covers Cameroon within the Central Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in XAF, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in French and English.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Douala, Yaoundé, Garoua, Bafoussam.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Cameroon, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Expert-comptable ; societe d'expertise comptable inscrite au tableau, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
Oui. L'ONECCA est le regulateur officiel de la profession comptable camerounaise, place sous la tutelle du ministere des Finances, et tient le tableau des experts-comptables, commissaires aux comptes et societes d'expertise. Dans la tradition juridique heritee du droit francais et du cadre OHADA, la tenue, l'organisation et la surveillance de la comptabilite pour le compte de tiers, dont decoule l'etablissement de la paie, sont reservees aux professionnels inscrits.
Cameroon has a legal peculiarity that shapes how contracts are drafted: the country is bilingual and its law combines a civil law tradition across most of the territory with a common law inheritance in the North-West and South-West regions. Where the employee works therefore matters, and a clause drafted for Douala does not transpose to Bamenda without review.
The compulsory scheme is run by the Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS), which pays family benefits, occupational risk benefits and old-age pensions; registering the employer is what makes it possible to affiliate staff, Cameroonian and expatriate alike.
Salaries are paid in CFA francs of the BEAC zone, at a fixed parity with the euro. That CFA franc is not interchangeable with the West African one: banknotes do not circulate between the two zones, which regularly surprises groups operating on both sides.
Accountancy for third parties is reserved to professionals entered on the roll of ONECCA.
Prior endorsement of the contract by the ministry responsible for labour conditions the lawfulness of employing a foreign national. It is dealt with before the start date, alongside residence formalities, and not once the employee has arrived.
Registration in the Registre du commerce et du crédit mobilier opens the sequence of company formalities. That register is governed by uniform OHADA law and kept by the registry of the competent court rather than by a national agency: a candidate may present an extract issued by the Centre de formalités de création d'entreprises, a one-stop shop that processes applications without being the keeper of the register, and the distinction is worth knowing.
Next come the unique identification number from the Direction générale des impôts, the trade licence corresponding to the activity carried on, and employer registration with the CNPS.
Writing is the rule for the contract, and the applicable collective agreement and corresponding grading must be identified, several industries having their own texts.
Wage tax deducted at source, together with additional levies raised for local authorities, is paid over to the Direction générale des impôts; contributions follow the calendar set by the fund itself.
Grounds for termination, finally, are distinguished with care: they determine notice, severance and the documents to be issued.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Cameroon. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 8 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Cameroon and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extrait / attestation d'immatriculation au Registre du Commerce et du Credit Mobilier (RCCM)Extract from the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register Registre issu de l'Acte uniforme OHADA sur le droit commercial general. Demander un extrait recent et non la copie du recepisse de creation ; y joindre les statuts. | Greffe du Tribunal de Premiere Instance du siege social ; guichet unique du Centre de Formalites de Creation d'Entreprises (CFCE) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Carte de contribuable portant le Numero Identifiant Unique (NIU)Taxpayer card bearing the Unique Identification Number Le NIU a 14 caracteres est l'identifiant pivot de toutes les demarches camerounaises. Il se verifie en ligne sur le portail de la DGI. | Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Attestation de Conformite Fiscale (ACF)Tax compliance certificate L'ACF a remplace l'ancienne attestation de non-redevance ; elle figure au lexique fiscal officiel de la DGI. Elle se telecharge depuis l'espace du contribuable et porte un code de verification. Sa validite usuelle est de trois mois : la faire confirmer si le document ne la mentionne pas. | Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Attestation de conformite CNPS (ou attestation de non-redevance)Social security compliance certificate Piece exigee dans tous les appels d'offres camerounais. Elle atteste le paiement des cotisations (pensions, prestations familiales, accidents du travail) et suppose que l'employeur possede un numero d'immatriculation CNPS. | Caisse Nationale de Prevoyance Sociale (CNPS) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Titre de patente (ou attestation d'exoneration)Business licence tax certificate La patente est une contribution annuelle que doit acquitter toute entreprise commerciale ; son titre est affiche dans les locaux et couramment demande comme preuve d'activite reelle. | Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) / commune du siege | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Attestation d'assurance responsabilite civile professionnelleProfessional liability insurance certificate Le reglement de l'ONECCA impose aux membres inscrits au tableau de couvrir leur responsabilite professionnelle par une assurance. | Compagnie agreee par le ministere des Finances (marche CIMA) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Inscription au tableau de l'ONECCA (expert-comptable ou societe d'expertise comptable) — attestation d'inscriptionCertificate of registration with the National Order of Chartered Accountants of Cameroon Piece decisive au Cameroun. L'ONECCA se presente comme le regulateur officiel de la profession comptable et tient le tableau des experts-comptables et societes inscrites. La tenue de comptabilite pour compte de tiers relevant de la profession reglementee, exiger l'attestation d'inscription en cours de validite du cabinet, et non le seul diplome d'un associe. | Ordre National des Experts-Comptables du Cameroun (ONECCA), sous tutelle du ministere des Finances | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Carte nationale d'identite (CNI) ou passeport du dirigeantNational identity card or passport Y ajouter un extrait de casier judiciaire (bulletin n°3), couramment exige au Cameroun pour les dirigeants et lors de l'inscription a l'ONECCA. | Delegation Generale a la Surete Nationale (DGSN) | No expiry Required | Official website |
Administrative vocabulary has moved on and the exact term matters. The tax compliance certificate is now called the Attestation de Conformité Fiscale; a request framed using the older wording produces needless correspondence with the administration.
Contracts, payslips and internal notices should be drafted in the language the employee actually uses, the country's linguistic and legal duality being no ornament: the procedural rules before the courts of the anglophone regions are not identical to those of the francophone regions.
Cameroon has neither a general personal data protection statute nor a dedicated authority, the existing framework being a cybersecurity one overseen by ANTIC. There is accordingly no document to request on that front, which makes it all the more necessary to address the confidentiality of employee data in the contract itself, clause by clause, rather than by reference to a local standard that does not exist.
Ne pas demander une attestation de non-redevance fiscale : au Cameroun le document s'appelle desormais Attestation de Conformite Fiscale (ACF), sigle qui figure au lexique officiel de la DGI, et l'ancienne appellation circule encore dans les modeles de dossiers. Deuxieme point, le RCCM est un registre OHADA tenu par le greffe du tribunal, pas par une agence nationale : un candidat peut fournir un extrait delivre par le CFCE, qui est un guichet unique et non le teneur du registre. Enfin, le Cameroun n'a pas de loi generale de protection des donnees personnelles ni d'autorite dediee : il n'y a aucune piece a reclamer sur ce chapitre, seulement le cadre de cybersecurite pilote par l'ANTIC — c'est un point de vigilance reel pour un reseau qui fait transiter des donnees de salaries.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Cameroon, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Cameroon has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
We require a Cameroonian firm to appear on the roll of the Ordre National des Experts-Comptables du Cameroun, either as an individual expert-comptable or as an accountancy company, with a certificate of registration that is up to date. The file comprises the RCCM extract issued by the court registry, the unique identification number, the current trade licence, the Attestation de Conformité Fiscale and the CNPS compliance certificate. With no data protection framework in place, we pay particular attention to contractual confidentiality undertakings and to where files are hosted.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Cameroon yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in CameroonMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Cameroon.