Accounting services in Cambodia.

Cambodia has fully adopted IFRS without modification, known locally as Cambodian International Financial Reporting Standards (CIFRS) and CIFRS for SMEs. The applicable standard depends on the company’s classification:

• Public interest entities (PIEs) including listed companies, banks, microfinance institutions and insurance companies: required to apply full CIFRS
• Large private companies: also required to apply full CIFRS
• SMEs subject to statutory audit: must use CIFRS for SMEs
• Other SMEs and non-PIEs: may use either CIFRS for SMEs or full CIFRS

All accounting records must be maintained in Khmer and Cambodian Riel. Companies with 51% or more foreign ownership may also maintain records in English and USD if authorised by the relevant authority and may apply to ACAR for a non-calendar financial year-end. Our guide to accounting in Cambodia covers the full accounting framework.

Companies registered in Cambodia are required to maintain proper accounting records and prepare financial statements in compliance with Cambodian International Financial Reporting Standards (CIFRS), as administered by the National Accounting Council (NAC) under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).

In practice, this means:

• Monthly bookkeeping to support monthly tax filings, including Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) returns due by the 20th of the following month
• Preparation of annual financial statements: Income Statement, Balance Sheet and supporting notes
• Retention of accounting records and source documents for a minimum of ten years under Cambodia’s Law on Taxation

Failure to maintain compliant records exposes companies to penalties during General Department of Taxation (GDT) audits. For a full overview of related tax obligations, see Acclime’s Cambodia tax compliance service.

Not all companies in Cambodia are required to undergo a statutory audit. The requirement depends on entity classification under the CIFRS framework. Public interest entities (PIEs), including listed companies, banks, microfinance institutions and insurance companies, must have their annual financial statements independently audited. Large private companies applying full CIFRS are equally subject to mandatory audit. Certain SMEs that submit financial statements to the Accounting and Auditing Regulator of Cambodia (ACAR) may be required to audit depending on their size and sector.

Where an audit is required, it must be conducted by a licensed Certified Public Accountant. Audited financial statements should be submitted to both ACAR and the General Department of Taxation (GDT) within the prescribed deadlines. Companies not subject to mandatory audit may still undertake a voluntary audit where required by lenders or overseas investors.

Cambodian law requires registered companies to prepare annual financial statements in accordance with CIFRS, as issued by the National Accounting Council. The required statements are an Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Changes in Equity, Cash Flow Statement and accompanying notes.

These statements must accurately reflect the company’s financial position and are the basis for the annual tax return (Patent Tax declaration) filed with the GDT. Larger enterprises and those in regulated industries may face additional audit or disclosure requirements. Companies in the SME category may qualify to apply the CIFRS for SMEs standard, which simplifies certain recognition and measurement rules. All financial statements must be prepared in Khmer or accompanied by a Khmer translation.

There is no statutory requirement for accounting software itself to produce Khmer-language output, but annual financial statements must be prepared in Khmer or accompanied by a Khmer translation for GDT submissions and local banking purposes. In practice, this makes the language capability of the chosen platform a meaningful operational consideration.

The three platforms most commonly used in Cambodia are QuickBooks, Xero and Localize. QuickBooks and Xero are internationally standard systems with strong reporting and multi-user access but produce output in English by default, requiring translation at the financial statement stage. Localize is a locally developed platform that generates reports natively in Khmer, which reduces translation friction for businesses that file directly in Khmer or need Khmer-language statements for local counterparties. For businesses where the owner wants direct access to enter transactions, all three support simultaneous client and accountant access.