An accountant in France is an absolute necessity
…for anyone considering starting up their own business. The accounting principles in France are clearly defined - as with most official issues that you will encounter – and derive from the Code de Commerce and the and Plan Comptable Général. These codes are monitored, updated and amended as and when from the Code Général Des Impôts and by the Conseil National de la Comptabilité.
All trading entities are obliged to keep certain accountancy records.
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Daybook – All movements that affect the assets and liabilities of the trading entity should be recorded, operation by operation and on a daily basis in the Daybook (sales, purchases, costs etc)
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Inventory ledger- An annual list of assets and liabilities, the annual profit and loss account is to be recorded in that book.
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General ledger – a listing of all accounts being used.
Although accounts should be drawn up in french, accounts drawn up in foreign (non french) languages sometimes are accepted by the authorities. Additionally the authorities specify the manner in which all accounts are kept by a homogenous numerical system as follows:
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Capital accounts (shareholder equity)
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Fixed assets (property, plant, machinery and equipment)
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Stock, including raw materials, work in progress and finished goods
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‘Comptes Tiers’ ( Third party accounts’), which include all outside parties
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Bank and other treasury accounts
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Expenses
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Sales and other income
Microenterprises - those businesses that qualify as micro enterprises ( you need to register at your local Greffe du Tribunal (Chamber of Commerce) are required only to keep simplified accounting records in the form of a daily listing of receipts (source and amount) and expenditures. They are not required to keep a full set of ’accountancy records’ or to categorise or summarise each transaction by account and at the end of the year they need only summarise their revenues, provide a list of their fixed assets and depreciation for the year. There is a limit fixed for the maximum revenue for this type of business, exceeding that limit entails summarising the revenues, expenses, debts etc but there is no need to prepare formal financial statements.
Other corporate entities such as Sarls, SAS, Eurls have to file their financial statements -called the bilan- along with income statement – comptes des résultat, plus any accompanying annexe or notes and management report – with the CCI within 30 days of the annual meeting which must be held within six months of the close of the financial year.
A good web portal for business and accountant information is the Club Comptable web site found at www.club-comptable.com and there are a number of accountancy packages that can be used a recommended website is found at Comptanoo.com
For further information contact lawfr@irl353.com
Disclaimer: The information contained on this page does not set out to give anything other than a glimpse of certain aspects of this area of French Accountancy. Professional advice should always be sought from a qualified French accountant.