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Institute of Advanced Technological and Commercial Studies

Careers

Accounting assistant

Post, reconcile, substantiate: the accounting assistant handles the raw material of the numbers. It is the role that opens accountancy to someone who likes order, verification and the very concrete satisfaction of an account that balances.

The accounting rhythm of a month

The month has a regular shape. The first week belongs to posting and filing, the second to bank reconciliation and matching third-party accounts, the third to chasing and routine filings, the last to preparing the close. Between those milestones sits the work that makes it all possible: chasing a missing document, correcting an allocation, explaining a gap to the accountant who will take the file on.

  • Post purchases, sales and cash transactions
  • Reconcile bank accounts and match third-party ledgers
  • Prepare routine filings and gather supporting documents
  • File, archive and retrieve a document at an auditor's request

Three ways in

The accounting practice

Several files, several sectors, dense learning. It is the environment that trains fastest, and the one that opens the most doors afterwards.

A company accounting department

One file, known in depth, with clear cycles: suppliers, customers, cash, fixed assets.

Externally funded organisations

Programmes, associations, microfinance bodies: substantiating spending is central there, and the role is much sought after.

The programme in four measures

These measures come from the very document filed with the ministry, and they check out. An employer funding training asks for hours first; an equivalence office asks for credits first; a candidate asks for duration first. All three readings find their answer here, expressed in the same unit across the catalogue.

Skilled employee and operative

qualification level
4
months of programme
9

Led by an instructor.

taught hours
600 h

1 credit = 25 h of work, 10 of them taught.

credits
60

Framework of the « Accounting Assistant » qualification, code TP08.

competency blocks
5

What each block makes you able to run

Each block is framed by what it makes possible in the field, not by the chapters it contains. That is what lets you hold the framework straight against a real job description: both speak in professional acts. The taught hours attached give the measure of the practice planned for each.

  1. 01

    Recording day-to-day transactions

    Purchases, sales, bank, cash, the OHADA framework — 180 taught hours.

  2. 02

    Reconciliation and adjustments

    Bank reconciliation, matching, period-end adjustments — 140 taught hours.

  3. 03

    Tax and social filings

    VAT, withholdings, periodic returns, filing calendars — 140 taught hours.

  4. 04

    Accounting tools and organisation

    Accounting software, spreadsheets, filing, archiving, basic internal control — 90 taught hours.

  5. 05

    Professional conduct and employability

    Confidentiality, working with the chartered accountant, job search — 50 taught hours.

Routes into the accounting professions

The programmes below build the skills this role mobilises. Each row shows what the institute commits to: duration, credits, taught hours and fees in Guinean francs, read straight from the catalogue. You compare on the same basis as the admissions office, with exactly the same figures.

ProgrammeDurationCreditsTaught hoursFees
Finance and Accounting programme — Bac+5 level · Master's degree2 years1201200 h6 800 000 GNF per year
Certificate in OHADA Finance and Compliance · Professional certification6 months18180 h4 200 000 GNF in total
Advanced Excel · Short course2 months440 h900 000 GNF in total

What comes up in guidance interviews

Do I need full command of the OHADA framework?

The OHADA accounting framework is the region's common reference, and the qualification covers it from the first block: chart of accounts, mandatory documents, statement presentation. That is exactly what makes the skill transferable from Guinea to Senegal, Mali or Côte d'Ivoire.

What is the next step?

The company accountant qualification, at level 5, entrusts the full running of a file through to the annual statements. Then comes the finance and administration manager, at level 6, adding budget, cash and steering. Progression happens in steps, each anchored to a qualification.

Is spreadsheet work still central?

It is, and it will remain so: reconciliations, cross-checks, substantiation schedules. The short advanced spreadsheet course runs over two months and makes daily work markedly faster, which is why it appears in the programme table.

Accounting assistant — Careers | IHETC — IHETC