FEC accounting file: the complete guide for companies in France

Updated April 2026 - Every year, thousands of companies discover during a tax audit that their FEC file contains anomalies. A missing field, a sequence break, an unbalanced ledger — and the tax administration draws its own conclusions. Understanding the FEC, its structure and its technical requirements is not a task reserved for specialists: it is a management responsibility that every company operating in France must integrate.

The FEC (Fichier des Ecritures Comptables) is a standardised file containing all accounting entries for a financial year. It must be submitted mandatorily to the French tax administration during a tax audit (verification de comptabilite), under article L47 A of the Livre des procedures fiscales (LPF).

Introduced by the decree of 29 July 2013, the FEC has been mandatory since 1 January 2014 for all companies subject to corporate income tax (IS) or personal income tax (IR) that maintain computerised accounting, regardless of the software used. Non-compliance — whether through failure to submit or through submission of a non-compliant file — exposes the company to a financial penalty and potentially to rejection of its accounts.

The FEC is a text file in .txt or .csv format with the following specifications:

• ▸Encoding: UTF-8 or ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1)
• ▸Separator: tab (ASCII character 09) or pipe (|)
• ▸Mandatory header line: the first row must contain the column names in the prescribed order
• ▸No blank lines or additional non-standard columns
• ▸18 mandatory fields in the sequence prescribed by article A47 A-1 of the LPF

The 18 fields cover three categories of information:

Journal identification: JournalCode (journal code, e.g. ACH for purchases, VTE for sales, BQ for bank), JournalLib (journal label).

Entry identification: EcritureNum (unique entry sequence number), EcritureDate (entry date in YYYYMMDD format), EcritureLib (entry description), ValidDate (validation date).

Account information: CompteNum (chart of accounts number), CompteLib (account label), CompAuxNum (auxiliary account number for third-party accounts), CompAuxLib (auxiliary account label).

Document traceability: PieceRef (source document reference), PieceDate (source document date).

Financial data: Debit (debit amount, 0.00 if credit entry), Credit (credit amount, 0.00 if debit entry).

Matching and currency: EcritureLet (matching letter), DateLet (matching date), Montantdevise (foreign currency amount), Idevise (ISO currency code).

Common field errors: non-unique EcritureNum across the period; CompAuxNum absent on third-party accounts; empty or untraceable PieceRef; both Debit and Credit populated on the same line (the standard requires one OR the other, with 0.00 for the unused field).

The main French accounting software publishers offer a native FEC export function:

• ▸Sage (Sage 100, Sage 50): menu Traitements > Export FEC, select the financial year and TXT tab-separated format
• ▸Cegid (Cegid Expert, Cegid Loop): export via the tax module, with integrated compliance checking
• ▸EBP (EBP Compta, EBP Gestion): Fichiers > Export reglementaire > FEC, with integrated test option
• ▸Pennylane: FEC export available from the firm portal, DGFiP-compliant format by default

In all cases, always export the FEC for a complete financial year — from the first to the last day. A partial export by quarter or by journal is not compliant with the standard.

The DGFiP provides the free application Test Compta Demat (downloadable from impots.gouv.fr). This tool performs a series of automatic checks:

1. ▸Structure check: presence of all 18 fields, encoding, separators, headers
2. ▸Coherence check: debit/credit balance, entry number continuity, date chronology
3. ▸Completeness check: absence of mandatory empty fields outside authorised exceptions

The most frequent anomalies detected by Test Compta Demat include:

• ▸Sequence breaks in EcritureNum (numbering gaps)
• ▸Unbalanced totals by journal or by period
• ▸Incoherent dates (EcritureDate before the start of the financial year or after closing)
• ▸Non-authorised special characters in text fields
• ▸Additional columns not provided for in the standard

Once the FEC is received, the administration analyses it using the CFVR software (Controle des Fichiers des Verifications Reglementaires). The automated tests cover:

• ▸Completeness tests: verification that all entries for the period are present
• ▸Integrity tests: detection of modifications made after the validation date
• ▸Coherence tests: cross-referencing the FEC against the filed tax returns and statutory accounts
• ▸Anomaly detection: duplicate entries, negative entries, abnormally coded accounts

These analyses allow the inspector to select the periods, journals and accounts to investigate further. A clean FEC mechanically reduces the scope of the investigation.

Under article L47 A I of the LPF, the company has 15 days from receipt of the audit notification to submit the FEC. This deadline is in practice negotiable with the inspector when justified technical difficulties exist.

You have the right to be assisted by your chartered accountant (expert-comptable) for the submission and for responding to the administration's questions about the FEC. Never submit a FEC without verifying it beforehand.

The best time to detect a FEC anomaly is before the audit. We recommend testing the FEC at least once a year, ideally in the weeks following the year-end close when the data is fresh and corrections are still straightforward.

This preventive approach makes it possible to:

• ▸Correct software configuration anomalies before they accumulate
• ▸Document the export method to guarantee reproducibility
• ▸Identify the journals or periods that concentrate errors

Hayot Expertise advice: for our clients, we systematically integrate a FEC test into the annual closing calendar. A clean file presupposes a clean process — and a clean process is built across the whole year, not under pressure when an audit notification arrives.

See also anticipating a corporate tax audit, statutory accounts appendix thresholds and accounting process quality.

We can help you verify its compliance, identify sensitive anomalies and document your export process.

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In 2026, the FEC remains one of the most reliable indicators of a company's accounting process maturity. A compliant file reflects a rigorous process, an integrated audit trail and accounts that can withstand scrutiny. Do not let a technical question become a lever for deeper fiscal investigation.

Want to audit your FEC before it becomes a tax audit issue? We can help you do it properly.

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Which companies must submit a FEC during a French tax audit?

All companies subject to corporate income tax (IS) or personal income tax (IR) that maintain computerised accounting are required to submit the FEC, regardless of the software used. Submission is mandatory within 15 days of receiving the audit notification (art. L47 A LPF). Companies using fully manual accounting are not subject to this obligation.

What are the 18 mandatory fields of the FEC?

JournalCode, JournalLib, EcritureNum, EcritureDate, CompteNum, CompteLib, CompAuxNum, CompAuxLib, PieceRef, PieceDate, EcritureLib, Debit, Credit, EcritureLet, DateLet, ValidDate, Montantdevise, Idevise. All fields must be present even if some are empty for entries where they are not applicable (e.g. EcritureLet if no matching has been applied).

What are the penalties for a non-compliant or missing FEC?

A fine of 5,000 euros for failure to submit or for a non-compliant FEC (art. 1729 F CGI), possible rejection of the company's accounts, and ex-officio assessment of the tax base by the administration. Preventive compliance testing is strongly recommended to avoid this technical issue becoming a lever for deeper investigation.

How can a company test its FEC compliance before a tax audit?

Use the free Test Compta Demat tool from the DGFiP (downloadable from impots.gouv.fr). It checks file structure, balance coherence and the presence of all mandatory fields. Resolving anomalies before an audit significantly reduces risk and allows the export method to be documented and repeatable.