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Professional unions
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.