Ordre des Experts-Comptables

A French professional accounting and external auditing organization. The *expert-comptable is the French equivalent of the *Certified Public Accountant, but the *public accounting profession is less extensive in France than in the English-speaking world. The Ordre had around 16,000 members in 2003, with a significant overlapping of membership with the French body that supervises external auditing, the *Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes (CNCC). The Ordre’s current name dates from 1994, but its predecessor organizations trace their origins to the nineteenth century - the most recognizable antecedents were set up in the 1940s. The Ordre is headquartered in Paris, and its activities include a French-language publishing program, including a monthly magazine, the *Revue Francaise de la Comptabilite. It has no direct standard-setting responsibilities, but it participates in the activities of the national French *accounting standards-setting body, the Comite de la Reglementation Comptable. (French *auditing standards are set by the CNCC.) Web site (some material in English): www.experts-comptables.org