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single source of accounting regulations exists in France. Accounting practice
has been developed from legislation in order to satisfy the requirements
of the fiscal authorities and commercial laws (Code de Commerce), where
banks provided the major part of company finance.
The first National Accounting Code (Plan Comptable Général) was developed
out of the Goring Code of 1942 and was introduced in 1947 with a permanent
Council to enforce it throughout France. It was revised in 1957. The
Plan Comptable (Chart of Accounts) and the Code de Commerce were completely
rewritten in 1982, as a result of the updating of Company Law of 24
July 1966 to ensure conformity with EU directives, in particular the
Fourth and Seventh Directives. A further revision of the Chart is in
preparation aimed at giving it a more "semi-constant" status to respond
to the rapid developments taking place at domestic, European and US
level.
As a professional body, the OEC became effective from 1945 onwards,
and was most recently reformed in 1994. French legislation introduced
to implement the mutual recognition of diplomas also contained minor
provisions designed to modernise the regulation of the accountancy profession.
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