MFO accounting in Kazakhstan: organising work and month-end closing

First, determine which requirements apply to your organisation

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Accounting and Financial Reporting provides the framework for organising accounting. However, the applicable standard and specific requirements cannot be selected solely because a company's name includes “microfinance”: its legal form, status and actual activities matter. Requirements for an MFO, pawnshop and credit partnership may differ.

A practical recommendation is to create an accounting profile: legal form, licensed activities, product types, branches, applicable standard, accounting system and reporting recipients. For each item, identify the basis and responsible person. This is a working map of the company, not a universal requirements list for all market participants.

Gather documents before configuring accounting entries

Each accounting entry must have documentary support. A collection of email attachments is not a managed archive: the accountant needs a link to the transaction, a date, a version and access to a properly executed document. An ordinary scan and an electronic original should not automatically be treated as interchangeable.

When setting up or handing over accounting, prepare a list of documents received and a separate list of missing items. Assign an owner and a recovery process to each gap. Do not substitute arbitrary balance adjustments for missing documents.

• Accounting policies, working registers, reference data and system settings.
• Loan agreements, schedules, and documents relating to disbursement, repayment, restructuring and security.
• Bank statements, cash documents and information on unidentified receipts.
• Documents for expenses, fixed assets, employees and settlements with counterparties.
• Previous reports, acceptance confirmations and correspondence on corrections.

Connect the loan portfolio, cash movements and accounting

Choose a single date and compare contract data with accounting registers. Separate principal, interest, arrears, receipts and adjustments: matching totals can conceal errors within individual figures. Retain contract-level detail so differences can be checked.

A standard control is to reconcile opening balances, movements during the period and closing balances. If a payment appears in the bank but has not been allocated in the loan system, first establish its purpose and transaction date. Manually changing the final report leaves the source problem unresolved and carries it into the following month.

Define the month-end closing sequence

We recommend completing the collection of source documents before final reconciliation, then checking accruals and estimates, preparing reports and reviewing the figures. Set internal deadlines ahead of mandatory deadlines. The buffer depends on transaction volumes and the number of systems, not a universal promise to close everything within a few days.

The manager should receive a trial balance, agreed breakdowns of material items, a list of unresolved issues and reporting status. Store file-upload confirmations separately from report-acceptance confirmations. Tax, financial and regulatory reporting serve different purposes; preparing one does not mean the others are complete.

What to record when handing over accounting support

Agree on the handover date, scope, access rights, document exchange format and approval process for corrections. Separately define who is responsible for source data in the loan system, who makes accounting decisions and who signs the reports. Accepting a database without a list of unresolved issues makes it harder to distinguish old errors from new ones.

ProFinance Consulting assists with accounting, reporting and automation. For an initial consultation, a description of your operations, software and problem is enough; loan portfolios containing personal data should only be transferred through an agreed secure channel.

Preparation checklist

• Applicable accounting rules and reporting types have been identified.
• Documents and access rights are handed over against a checklist, with responsible persons assigned.
• Loan and accounting balances are reconciled as of the same date.
• Discrepancies are explained and have a correction plan.
• Closing procedures and controls over post-close changes are approved.
• Reports, calculations and acceptance confirmations are retained.

Frequently asked questions