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Chart 1

Despite the dominance of the Big 5, the bulk of the French accounting profession, numerically, remains the small to medium sized firms serving the many owner-managed SME businesses in France. Over 10, 000 accountancy firms employing 130, 000 people now compete in France generating 20% of their fees from audit work and 80% arising from accountancy services. Overall, the fee split profiles have remained the more or less consistent over the past few years, with a slight increase in consultancy arising from the conversion to the Euro, the impact of new technologies and the implementation of the 35-hour working week in France.

The focus has become one of achieving improved price/quality service in a highly competitive market. In response, small to medium-sized practices are offering a broader range of services, already enjoyed by the bigger firms, in areas like general business consultancy and investment advice. They have also forged regional partnerships, trimmed their overheads and looked beyond France to export their expertise.

But restrictions still exist in France preventing accountants from offering certain services; for example, insolvency services - except in very limited circumstances - cannot be provided by accountants, as these activities are restricted to other professions.

Chart 1

Following the pattern of the UK financial sector, most of the Big Six in France have downsized over the early part of the 1990's. In the past three years, French accountancy firms have shed 6000 staff - over 5000 alone between 1993 and 1994. The first signs of a revival in the recruitment of accountants and auditors appeared in 1996; a total of 1,195 new recruits were hired by the big firms, many of which were employed directly from the grandes écoles at entry level.

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