French chartered accountants directory: how to verify and choose a firm in 2026

Updated 25 May 2026 — Before entrusting your French accounting, tax compliance or annual accounts to a firm, one verification is non-negotiable: is the professional genuinely registered on the roll of the Ordre des experts-comptables (OEC)? In France, the title of expert-comptable has been legally protected since 1945. The OEC's official directory is the only public tool that confirms this with legal force.

In brief: the OEC directory at experts-comptables.fr lets you confirm in under two minutes that a firm or practitioner holds a valid roll number. Registration is a legal prerequisite for practising. It does not, however, tell you whether the firm is suited to your sector, size or stage of growth — that judgement requires your own evaluation.

The public directory is maintained by the Conseil supérieur de l'Ordre des experts-comptables (CSOEC) and accessible at experts-comptables.fr. It lists every registered chartered accountant and accounting firm enrolled with one of the 23 regional councils (conseils régionaux) covering metropolitan France and overseas territories.

Each entry shows the numéro de tableau (roll number) assigned at registration, the firm or practitioner name, legal form, professional address and the relevant regional council. Records are updated by regional councils as registrations, transfers and removals occur.

The directory is free to search without an account and can be filtered by city, postcode, region or declared area of expertise.

Ordonnance n° 45-2138 of 19 September 1945 is the founding text of the profession.

• Article 1 defines the expert-comptable as a person who habitually keeps, controls, corrects or reviews the accounts of businesses or organisations with which they have no employment relationship. This definition establishes the statutory monopoly: only a registered expert-comptable may carry out these tasks habitually on behalf of third parties.
• Article 2 makes registration on the OEC roll a condition for practising. Without it, the activity is illegal.
• Article 22 sets out criminal penalties for unlawful practice — proceedings can be brought on the basis of title usurpation and the illegal exercise of a regulated profession.

For UK-based businesses operating in France — subsidiaries, branches, SCI structures, e-commerce entities — this means any provider describing themselves as an accountant but not appearing on the OEC roll is not legally authorised to sign your French accounts or file your tax returns on your behalf.

A collaborateur within a registered firm may perform technical work, but the registered expert-comptable always bears professional liability and signs documents. When dealing with a contact who is not personally registered, confirm that their firm is.

If a trading name differs from the registered legal name, ask the firm to clarify which entity holds the OEC registration. This is common with networks and multi-brand structures, but always merits an explicit answer.

Only the official OEC directory or the relevant regional council directory confirms the legal right to practise. Private platforms are useful for pricing comparisons and client feedback but do not validate registration.

The official directory allows geographic filtering by city, postcode or region. Filtering by specialism is more limited: the OEC does not formally certify sector specialisations in its public search. Declared competence markers (OEC-recognised specialist associations) do not systematically appear in basic search results.

To find a firm by specialism or language, the most reliable approach combines:

• geographic filtering on the official directory to confirm registration;
• the regional council website (e.g. croec.fr for Île-de-France) which sometimes publishes thematic lists;
• sector-specific professional associations (CJEC for young practitioners, startup-labelled networks, etc.) to identify practitioners with documented expertise.

Engaging an unregistered provider exposes a business to concrete risks:

• Annual accounts may lack legal standing if the signatory is not authorised.
• During a tax or social security audit, the absence of a registered expert-comptable can weaken the business's position.
• Unregistered providers are not subject to OEC ethical rules: independence, professional secrecy, and compulsory professional indemnity insurance do not apply.
• Ordinal recourse (disciplinary proceedings, mediation through the Order) is unavailable in case of dispute.

Article 22 of the 1945 ordonnance targets the provider, but the business that relied on unregistered accounts may face indirect consequences — particularly regarding the reliability of documents submitted to tax authorities.

A situation we encounter periodically: a business contacts us after working for several months with a provider introduced as an "expert-comptable", whose firm does not appear under that name in the OEC directory. On investigation, the contact was a salaried employee of another structure, working independently without personal registration. The accounts produced bore no signature from a registered expert-comptable. The situation required a full accounting reconstruction and an audit of the affected periods before a regular tax return could be filed.

A two-minute directory check at the outset would have avoided this entirely.

The most robust approach combines:

1. Official directory: confirms legal standing.
2. Peer recommendation: a referral from a contact in your sector provides sector competence signals the directory cannot supply.
3. Self-audit: before consulting, clarify your real needs — size, sector, tax challenges, management tools, desired reporting frequency. This preparation makes firm comparisons far more productive.

For sector-specific guidance, see our article Expert-comptable par secteur d'activité 2026. For mission scope and pricing benchmarks, our guide on accounting support provides practical reference points.

• Is the firm's registration confirmed on experts-comptables.fr?
• What is the numéro de tableau and which regional council holds the record?
• Does the trading name match the registered legal entity?
• Who is the named expert-comptable signing my accounts?
• What does the engagement letter explicitly cover: bookkeeping, VAT returns, annual accounts, management reporting?
• How does the firm handle electronic invoicing obligations (facturation électronique) for VAT-registered entities?

Electronic invoicing obligations for VAT-registered businesses in France are being phased in across 2026–2027. When selecting a firm, verify that it works with approved platforms (plateformes de dématérialisation partenaires, PDPs) and can support your transition. This capability does not appear in the OEC directory — it is a question to raise directly at your first meeting.

Regional councils, including the CROEC Île-de-France (croec.fr), publish updated guidance on regulatory developments for firms in their jurisdiction.

The directory confirms the legal framework. Sector fit, working method, tools and reporting quality require a conversation about your actual business.

Further reading: Top des experts-comptables recommandés en 2026 and our accounting support guide.

This article is for information purposes only. It does not replace a personalised review of your situation, documents and applicable law. Rules on the statutory monopoly and penalties are drawn from ordonnance n° 45-2138 of 19 September 1945, available at legifrance.gouv.fr. Always verify registration at experts-comptables.fr before signing an engagement letter.