Forensic Accounting Techniques and Beneficial Ownership Transparency in Southern Africa: Implications for Money Laundering Detection and Asset Recovery

Abstract

Beneficial ownership information tells investigators who owns and controls the entities that hold suspected proceeds of crime, yet little research links it to the forensic accounting techniques that use it. This study asks what the beneficial ownership frameworks of five Southern African jurisdictions (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique) require, how they compare with the revised FATF Recommendation 24, which forensic techniques depend on ownership information, and how gaps limit detection and asset recovery. It is a qualitative desk-based review that combines doctrinal analysis of the law with documentary analysis of official reports, evaluations and published research. Four of the five jurisdictions require companies to file ownership information with a central authority, and Mozambique’s framework could not be coded from the sources found. The regimes differ more in access and verification than in legal coverage, and verification is the least documented element. Namibia reported that 45.3% of registered entities had declared their beneficial owners at the end of 2025. Registry tracing, related-party analysis and link analysis depend most on ownership information, while transaction and net worth analysis can proceed without it but identify unexplained wealth and not legal owners. The study recommends clearer access rules, verification, coverage of trusts, technique-level training and published statistics on how registers are used. The findings describe the design and reported operation of the regimes and do not measure detection or recovery outcomes.