Switching French CPA in 2026: full procedure & resignation letter

Pricing creep, rotating contacts, late filings, no advisory, errors discovered at year-end: switching your French chartered accountant is a right, and the profession has already set out how it works. The code of ethics devotes a full article to replacing a fellow practitioner, and it places most of the work on the incoming firm, not on you.

Yet many founders postpone the move out of fear of notice periods, file retention, or transition fees. This guide, written by Samuel HAYOT, an English-speaking French CPA in Paris 8th, gives you the exact procedure, deadlines, documents to recover, costs to anticipate and a ready-to-send letter template.

Practical tool: our free resignation letter generator produces your personalised letter in 2 minutes, ready to print and send by registered post.

The cost of waiting is real but invisible: advice you never receive, a tax option you never take, a filing that goes in late. None of it shows up on an invoice, unlike transition fees, which is why so many files stay put long after the decision has been made.

Before any letter is sent, open your lettre de mission (engagement letter). It, and it alone, sets your deadlines.

You will read everywhere that the notice period is "three months". As a general rule, that is simply wrong. Article 151 of decree n° 2012-432 of 30 March 2012 requires the professional to enter into a written contract with the client "defining their engagement and setting out the rights and obligations of each party", and adds that the term of the mandate "may also be stated in it". It sets no minimum duration and no notice period. The one article that governs stopping an engagement mid-course, article 156, binds the accountant, not you: it is the accountant who must carry the engagement "through to its normal term" and who may only interrupt it "for just and reasonable grounds".

In other words, the three-month notice is not the law. It is a clause. Look in your own copy for:

• Contract duration (usually annual, tacitly renewed)
• The notice period and its required form (registered post? anniversary date?)
• The termination window, where there is one
• Handover terms at the end of the engagement
• Outstanding fees (pro rata or flat balance)

In practice: if your letter provides for three months and you target a switch on 1 January, your notice goes out by 30 September at the latest. If it provides for one month, you have until 30 November. If it provides for nothing, ordinary contract law applies and the period is open to discussion.

No signed engagement letter? A written contract is a professional obligation (article 151). You are not bound by a contractual notice period, since none was ever agreed: stay courteous and factual in your letter, and set a reasonable effective date yourself.

Never resign before signing with a new firm. A blank period exposes you to:

• Missed VAT returns (5-10% penalty + interest)
• Late DSN payroll filings (€50 per employee per month)
• Delayed year-end close (€1,500 fine + director's liability)

Points to confirm with the incoming firm

• Capacity to take over the file at no cost (negotiate at quote stage)
• Take-over of at least 2 closed financial years for historical context
• Named, single point of contact
• Modern collaborative tool (Pennylane, Tiime, Cegid Loop)
• Pre-signature availability to validate the migration plan

See: How to choose your CPA in Paris in 2026 | How much does a French CPA cost

Mandatory content

1. Company details: name, legal form, share capital, SIREN, RCS, registered office
2. Outgoing firm's details: name, address, attention of the signing CPA
3. Reference to date and number of the engagement letter
4. Subject: termination of the engagement letter
5. Effective date (e.g. 31 December 2026)
6. Notice period applied
7. Explicit handover request: FEC, balance, journals, software backups, vouchers, portal access
8. Date and signature of the legal representative

Form

• Registered post with acknowledgment of receipt (LRAR), paper or electronic
• Factual, courteous tone : no motive required
• One page maximum

Time-saver: our free resignation letter generator produces your personalised letter in 2 minutes, with notice automatically calculated and FEC checklist pre-populated.

Express template (to personalise)

Subject: Termination of the engagement letter dated [date]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby notify you of the termination of the engagement letter signed on [date] between [company name, SIREN] and your firm, effective on [effective date], complying with the [X] month notice period contractually agreed.

Pursuant to article 163 of decree n° 2012-432 of 30 March 2012, under which the predecessor shall facilitate the handover of the file, please hand over by the effective date:

• the standardised FEC (accounting entries file) for each open year;
• the general and auxiliary trial balances at the date of termination;
• the general ledger, journals and supporting vouchers in your possession;
• software backups;
• portal access codes (tax, social) where applicable.

Please coordinate handover with my new firm [name], whose details are: [contact details].

Yours sincerely.

This is where most online articles get it wrong, one way or the other. The governing text is the code of ethics for accountancy professionals, articles 141 to 169 of decree n° 2012-432 of 30 March 2012. It says two distinct things.

One. Article 163 places the step on the incoming firm, not on you: it may only accept the engagement "after having informed" the outgoing practitioner, and the article closes with the sentence worth quoting in your letter: "The predecessor shall facilitate, with the client's agreement, the handover of the file." That is an obligation of means and of professional courtesy, not a mere formality.

Two. A right of retention does exist in French law, founded on article 2286 of the Civil Code, and article 168 of the same decree does not prohibit it: it frames it, by requiring the professional to inform the president of the regional council of the Ordre of "any contractual dispute leading them to consider retaining the work performed for non-payment of fees".

Remember the dividing line, which almost nobody states plainly:

And if the fees are disputed, the decree does not leave you without a route: article 163 expressly provides that the incoming firm suggest to you in writing "to use the conciliation or arbitration procedure of the Ordre provided for in articles 159 and 160".

Exhaustive checklist

If the handover stalls : 3 levers

1. A written request by registered post, citing article 163, listing the expected items one by one and setting a date. A precise letter achieves more than a threatening one.
2. Conciliation or arbitration by the Ordre (articles 159 and 160), with the president of your regional council: it is the route the decree itself provides, and he is also the person the outgoing firm must inform before retaining its work.
3. Reconstruction by the new firm from your bank statements, your invoices and the returns already filed. That is a catch-up engagement in its own right: it is quoted after the documents have been reviewed, never as a blind flat fee.

The point to hold on to: a fee dispute slows a handover down, it does not lock you in with your current firm. Termination and the fee dispute are two separate matters, and the second does not condition the first.

30-day timeline

Mandatory consistency audit

The new firm should validate: opening/closing balance reconciliation, suspense account clearance (471, 472, 47…), letter-matching of customer/supplier accounts, full bank reconciliation, VAT declared vs accounted, justified provisions.

Access to transfer

impots.gouv.fr pro space, net-entreprises.fr (DSN, DUE), URSSAF employer account, court registry (accounts filing), payroll software, bank (if prior delegation).

Direct fees

Hidden fees

• Pro-rata fees of outgoing firm to effective date
• Setup fees (rare but existing)
• ~30 days of reduced productivity on your side during ramp-up

Hayot Expertise : free take-over

For any file transmitted in standardised FEC format and onboarded under a Hayot Expertise engagement letter, we cover the take-over at no cost: file import, consistency audit, first annual review on the house.

1. Resigning before signing a new firm → legal vacuum, filing penalties.
2. Forgetting the notice period → switch postponed an entire year.
3. Justifying motives in the letter → unnecessary tension, possible handover blockage.
4. Not requesting the FEC explicitly → only PDF exports are sent (insufficient).
5. Confusing "I owe money" with "I cannot leave" → they are two separate matters. Your own documents come back to you whatever happens; only the firm's own unpaid work may be retained, and a fee dispute has its own route, conciliation by the Ordre (articles 159 and 160).
6. Skipping the consistency audit → you inherit hidden errors.
7. Switching during the tax campaign (March-May) → risky during accounts filing.

Companies with a statutory auditor (CAC)

Switching the CPA does not affect the CAC's mandate but inform them: they will appreciate the transition and may request reconciliation for the next certification. Don't confuse: the CAC is appointed by general meeting for 6 years; the CPA operates under a terminable engagement letter.

Switching close to year-end

If close is in less than 3 months, two options: (1) let the outgoing firm finalise the tax bundle then switch post-close (recommended); (2) hand over to the new firm : feasible but with elevated take-over fees (€1,500-3,000).

Switching with an open dispute

Switch first, contest later. Keep all written exchanges. Try conciliation or arbitration by the president of the regional council of the Ordre des experts-comptables before any civil litigation : usually effective.

Hayot Expertise is a firm registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables de Paris Île-de-France, based at 58 rue de Monceau in the 8th arrondissement, and led by a chartered accountant and statutory auditor. On a file handover, here is what we take on:

• The take-over at no charge, for any file handed over as a standardised FEC and where you come in under an engagement letter: import, consistency audit and first year-end review included.
• The letter to the outgoing firm, which article 163 places precisely on us: we write, you do not have to manage that exchange.
• Checking what is missing before your first deadline: trial balance, VAT, payroll, fixed assets. Better to find a gap in week one than at year-end.
• A firm quote before we start, with bookkeeping from €258 excl. VAT per month. Where financial years are in arrears, the catch-up work is quoted separately, once the documents have been reviewed.

What we do not promise: a guaranteed migration deadline. It depends on a third party, the outgoing firm, and on how fast it hands over. We commit on what is ours, and we tell you where the file stands.

Let's talk about your handover: we look at your engagement letter and your year-end date, and we tell you the realistic timeline.

• Article 163 of decree n° 2012-432 of 30 March 2012: replacing a fellow practitioner, handover of the file
• Article 168 of decree n° 2012-432: informing the president of the regional council before retaining work
• Article 151 of decree n° 2012-432: written contract, engagement letter
• Article 156 of decree n° 2012-432: interruption of an engagement by the professional
• Article 2286 of the French Civil Code: right of retention
• Code of ethics, articles 141 to 169
• OEC directory

Want to switch but need help structuring the migration? Contact Hayot Expertise : we handle the entire procedure for you.

See also: Free resignation letter generator | How to choose your French CPA | How much does a French CPA cost