Finance professionals across Africa are helping businesses to understand and manage increasingly onerous beneficial ownership information requirements, designed to aid anti-money laundering (AML) programmes and policies continent-wide.
In Mauritius, for example, under reforms to the Companies Act approved last year and in force from June 2026, Mauritius companies must obtain, maintain and file written declarations from their beneficial owners, appointing an authorised officer to provide beneficial ownership data to Mauritian regulators and law enforcement officers.
‘Business ownership is no longer a once-a-year tickbox exercise’
‘The enhanced beneficial ownership requirements are an important step in strengthening corporate transparency and aligning Mauritius with evolving international standards,’ says Désiré Lan, country managing partner for KPMG Mauritius. ‘The key will be ensuring practical implementation that balances transparency with an efficient and competitive business environment.’
Disclosure drive
In Zambia, the Companies (Amendment) Act 2025, in force since December 2025, requires companies to declare beneficial owners controlling these businesses, formally or informally, as well as those owning 5% or more shares – a lower threshold than standard practice worldwide. These declarations are policed by Zambia’s Registrar of the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (Pacra).
Companies are starting to comply, says Yande Mwenye, managing partner of accountancy firm YSM in Lusaka, although the Pacra-run beneficial ownership public registry is not yet active. ‘Pacra this year is making sure everyone is compliant and is regularising whatever records are there,’ Mwenye says. ‘If information is missed, we will see that in the public domain pretty soon, and see prosecutions, which is often the only way for compliance to happen.’
‘There will be a lot of work around disclosure, to follow the paper trail’
The act requires Zambian accountants to provide disclosures when carrying out company audits. ‘They need to understand the business, prepare financial statements and tax requirements,’ Mwenye explains, ‘so there will be a lot of work around that, to follow the paper trail. We will have to verify who the beneficial owners are, and do that independently.’
In Ghana, the Office of the Registrar of Companies last year told companies in existence before the electronic collection of beneficial ownership information started in January 2020 to file their beneficial ownership details by October 2025.
Gordon Nii Dardey FCCA, senior partner at KPMG Ghana, says the move will encourage full business ownership disclosures, aiding corporate and personal tax assessments and investor valuations. ‘Accountants have a key role to play, handling company registration processes, completing tax documentation and filling the relevant forms, because some business owners may not fully understand the requirements.’
AML pressure
Pressure has been imposed on African governments to act by bodies concerned with fighting money laundering, such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Its business ownership rules were upgraded in 2022, insisting that access to this data from competent authorities should be timely and adequate, enabling assessments of illicit financial risk posed by foreign-owned companies.
FATF and its associated regional bodies are now checking whether its business ownership standards are being met by governments, through its fifth mutual evaluation report round, launched in 2024.
Currently, numerous African countries are scheduled for assessments, with additional states under review by AML groups in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAAMLG), Central Africa (GABAC), West Africa (GIABA), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENAFATF).
Registry centralisation
Looking ahead, governments will have to decide whether to create national, unified business information registers, rather than letting companies control their own register, and whether sectors should run their own registries or limit declaration to certain types of company.
For example, in Nigeria, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) operates a central register for ‘persons with significant control’. However, this is only for companies, and the CAC’s registrar and CEO Hussaini Ishaq Magaji has called for the creation of a comprehensive central Nigerian business ownership database covering a wider range of organisations.
‘It will reinforce good governance and financial integrity’
Samuel Omotosho, finance manager at Nigeria-based health services provider EHA Clinics, supports the idea. ‘It will strengthen transparency, improve due diligence and make it easier for accountants to verify ownership information, assess risk and support compliance,’ he says. ‘If implemented effectively, it would enhance trust in Nigeria’s corporate landscape while reinforcing the accountant’s role in promoting good governance and financial integrity.’
He adds: ‘Accountants have a critical role to play in ensuring beneficial ownership information is accurately identified, maintained and reported. This not only supports regulatory compliance but also strengthens financial reporting, risk management and the due diligence processes relied upon by auditors, regulators, financial institutions and investors.’
Enforcement is key
All new legislation needs enforcement. In South Africa, under the Companies Amendment Act 16 of 2024, there is a ‘hard stop’ from July 2024 that prevents companies from completing annual returns without making beneficial ownership declarations and registrations. Non-compliance can incur late submission penalties or potentially company deregistration.
‘We expected it to be less time-consuming’
While this approach has been effective, business ownership declarations have become onerous. ‘We expected it to be less time-consuming,’ says Cobus Swart, director of accounting firm Centacc in Pretoria.
He highlights the differing declarations now required by other government departments, the South Africa Revenue Service and the Master of the High Court for legal persons such as trusts. Banks and financial institutions also require business ownership declarations. ‘There are various declarations needed at different times of year for the same client and in different formats,’ Swart says. ‘It is not standardised.’
Clients struggle to understand such declarations, he says, including the resulting higher accounting fees. ‘For accountants, business ownership is no longer a once-a-year compliance tickbox exercise, but one that needs to be maintained and managed.’
