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accounting and auditing professions in France are accessible via a common
study programme leading to the Diplôme d'expertise-comptable consist of
a protracted period of multi-stage exams spread over a minimum of 7 years
in both public and private institutions. The first level is the DPECF
(Diplôme préparatoire aux études comptables et financières), requiring
one to two years of study after secondary school; the DECF (Diplôme d'études
comptables et financières), requiring a further two years upon completion
of the DPECF; the DESCF (Diplôme d'études supérieures comptables et financières),
which can be completed in one year. Having successfully passed the three
exams, these qualifications provide access to careers as head of an accounting
or finance unit or service within industrial and commercial corporations.
The last step, leading to the Diplôme d'expertise-comptable, requires
the candidate to undertake a three year traineeship in a professional
accountancy firm monitored by a qualified principal, and the preparation
of a thesis, a written exam and an oral test. Holders of the final Diplôme
d'expertise-comptable, who are in public practice are automatically
eligible, once they have taken the professional oath, to enroll with
the Ordre.
France is one of the EU states (along with Belgium, Germany and Greece)
that restrict membership of professional associations to those working
in public practice. Membership is thus associated with a given function
and not with a certain educational background in accountancy or auditing;
upon leaving public practice in France to work in industry or retire,
the individual is obliged to rescind his/her membership of the OEC and
CNCC.
The most popular route to the CNCC is by obtaining the Diplôme d'expertise-comptable,
thus explaining why the majority of practitioners belong to both bodies.
Nevertheless, a specific and very restrictive route exists for French
nationals to the CNCC, comprising of a qualifying examination open to
persons holding a university degree or an equivalent degree from a higher
commercial college (école supérieur de commerce) and practical professional
training of at least three years, very similar to the traineeship required
to obtain the Diplôme d'expertise-comptable. Both streams can be undertaken
at the same time.
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