| Separate
professional unions exist in France representing the two professions who
take an active role in defending the interests of its members: first,
there is the Institut Français des Experts Comptables (IFEC) and the Union
Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes (UNCC), which is a single trade
union, with two branches of members. The second union is Experts Comptables
de France, which is a member of EFAA (the European Federation of accountants
& auditors of small to medium sized enterprises). Based on voluntary membership
and considered as an optional extra to the obligatory OEC and/or CNCC
membership, the unions hold annual conferences, provide technical information
to members via their journals and seminars. Dual membership to both unions
by practicing accountants is rare.
Other bodies associated with the accountancy profession include the
Institut des Diplômés d'Expertise Comptables en Entreprise (ECE), which
represents qualified accountants working in industry, and the Union
des Diplômés d'Expertise Comptable (UDEC), which functions as the trade
union of the ECE under the aegis of the IFEC-UNCC. The trainee accountants
are represented by the Association Nationale des Experts Comptables
Stagiaires (ANECS), who have become a powerful force in France of over
4400 members with 800 members in the Paris region alone. ANECS holds
its own annual conference, and has links with other EU trainee accountants'
bodies.
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