Franchise & Networks Chartered Accountant in Paris

Hayot Expertise supports retail distribution networks, brick-and-mortar shops, e-commerce pure players, omnichannel retailers, single-unit franchisees, multi-unit franchisees and franchisors with their accounting, statutory audit, taxation and management reporting. Our firm is registered with the French Order of Chartered Accountants (OEC Paris-Île-de-France); its managing partner, Samuel Hayot, is a statutory auditor (commissaire aux comptes) registered on the list drawn up by the Haute autorité de l'audit (H2A). We work in French and in English with international brands and foreign-owned subsidiaries.

Margin protection, inventory shrinkage, promotional ROI, franchisor relationship, sector-specific collective agreements, TASCOM (commercial surface tax), NF525-certified cash registers, multi-rate VAT, OSS for EU sales, commercial leases: beyond the year-end close, we handle the topics that drive a store's profitability.

Retail operators face structural margin compression: pressure on purchase prices, rising fixed costs (rent, energy, payroll), fast-changing consumer behaviour and the omnichannel shift between physical stores, e-commerce and marketplaces. Steering the business requires fine-grained financial information (cost-of-goods composition, margin by product family or department, average basket monitoring, inventory turnover), produced monthly, not annually.

For franchise networks, additional constraints apply: turnover-based royalties, franchisor-mandated reporting, DIP compliance, capitalised entry fee, and operational standards (POS software, ERP, supply chain) often imposed by the network. The accounting, tax and legal technicality goes beyond a typical independent retailer.

Chartered accounting for distribution and franchise businesses

As your chartered accountant, our bookkeeping or review engagement supports you to:

• Create or acquire a retail or franchise business (bankable business plan, legal structure, DIP review).
• Protect your margins with monthly bookkeeping and a formalised internal control framework.
• Analyse performance through cost accounting by point of sale, by department, by product family or by channel (store / e-commerce / marketplace).
• Optimise external financing (professional credit, BPI, sale-and-leaseback, holding-level debt for new openings).

If your French entity is a subsidiary of a foreign group or a venture-backed company, we produce bilingual periodic reporting (FR/EN) for parent companies and investors, with US GAAP / IFRS reconciliation against French PCG when required.

Statutory audit (commissaire aux comptes)

Samuel Hayot, a statutory auditor registered on the list drawn up by the Haute autorité de l'audit (H2A), adopts a constructive and pragmatic approach combining substantive testing with a process review (purchasing, inventory, cash collection, payroll), in close cooperation with your teams. The goal: provide actionable internal control recommendations, particularly valuable for multi-site franchise holdings and foreign-owned subsidiaries. This engagement is for companies whose accounts the firm does not keep: the same firm cannot be both the accountant and the statutory auditor of the same entity.

Tax compliance

We handle recurring and ad-hoc tax filings: VAT (real normal or simplified), CFE, CVAE, TASCOM (form n°3350), corporate income tax, tax bundle (liasse); review eligibility for R&D and innovation tax credits (CIR/CII), defend you during tax audits (URSSAF, vérification de comptabilité, ESFP), and monitor each Finance Act affecting retail and franchise operators.

Payroll and HR

Hayot Expertise has a good knowledge of the main collective agreements (conventions collectives) applicable to retail and franchise: non-food retail (IDCC 1517), food retail (IDCC 2216), fast food (IDCC 1501), ready-to-wear apparel (IDCC 1483), DIY/home improvement (IDCC 1606), footwear retailers (IDCC 733). We run payroll, file DSN monthly, manage provident scheme affiliations, defend you during URSSAF inspections, and connect you with employment lawyers for any tribunal litigation.

Legal services

Our in-house legal team handles annual corporate housekeeping (AGM minutes, accounts filing), deed drafting (share transfers, by-law amendments, capital increases), commercial registry filings, and corporate restructuring (contributions, mergers, spin-offs, holding creation above multiple franchises).

Acquisition due diligence

Whenever a growth opportunity arises (buyout of a competing store, takeover of an existing franchise, acquisition of an independent retailer), we run a full financial due diligence before you commit: EBITDA normalisation, margin-by-family analysis, inventory and shrinkage audit, lease review, social and tax compliance check. For franchise targets we add the DIP and franchise contract analysis.

How to book the entry fee

The entry fee (initial fee) is an intangible fixed asset on the balance sheet, not an expense. It is amortised over the franchise contract term, typically 5 to 10 years. Treating it as an immediate expense is incorrect under French PCG and creates both an accounting error and an overstated tax deduction: an almost-certain audit finding.

Example: €30,000 entry fee on a 7-year contract → €4,286/year deductible amortisation → €643/year IS saving at the 15% reduced rate.

Royalties: deductibility and reconciliation

Periodic operating royalties (3% to 8% of net revenue depending on the network) are fully deductible operating expenses. Franchisees must monthly reconcile the rate billed against the contract: undetected drift over 12 months can represent thousands of euros in unjustified charges.

DIP: Pre-contractual Information Document (Loi Doubin, 1989)

Franchisors must deliver the DIP at least 20 days before signing. It contains the franchisor's annual accounts for the last two financial years, a presentation of the network of operators and the state of the market; financial projections are not mandatory. We review it before signature to test the realism of revenue assumptions and the margin viability after royalties.

Franchise is a popular entry route for foreign entrepreneurs: it offers a proven brand and system while you build French operational experience.

French Disclosure Obligation (DIP): France's Loi Doubin (since 1989) requires franchisors to provide a full disclosure document (Document d'Information Précontractuel) at least 20 days before signing. Franchisees who receive the DIP late or have fewer than 20 days to review it can have the contract voided in court. This 20-day window is mandatory: it applies equally to French franchisors and international networks operating in France.

Accounting for the entry fee (droit d'entrée): the one-time franchise entry fee is an intangible asset (immobilisation incorporelle) amortised over the franchise contract term, typically 5 to 10 years. Treating it as an immediate expense is incorrect under French PCG.

Cross-border royalties (transfer pricing): when royalties flow to a foreign master franchisor, we document arm's length pricing using CUP or TNMM methodology and prepare the contemporaneous documentation expected in case of a French tax audit.

TASCOM (commercial surface tax)

TASCOM applies to retail stores with a sales area exceeding 400 m² and revenue above €460,000. The taxable area covers customer circulation, product display, payment areas and staff circulation for selling, but excludes production, storage and zones closed to the public. The rate depends on revenue per m²; some categories (furniture, vehicles, building materials, garden centres, pet stores) benefit from a 30% reduction. We compute the base, file form n°3350 and secure the accounting treatment.

Business goodwill (fonds de commerce) vs. commercial goodwill (fonds commercial)

The fonds de commerce is the bundle of all tangible (inventory, equipment, fixtures) and intangible (customer base, lease right, sign, trade name) elements operating the business. The fonds commercial is only the residual intangible component (customer base, sign, trade name, market share), which cannot be allocated elsewhere on the balance sheet.

Under the French ANC standards, commercial goodwill is presumed to have an indefinite useful life and is therefore not amortised, but is subject to an annual impairment test. The presumption can be rebutted when the operating period is objectively limited (fixed-term franchise contract). Small entities may opt for a flat-rate 10-year amortisation (PCG art. 214-3) without impairment test. For tax purposes, amortisation is generally not deductible, except for goodwill acquired between 01/01/2022 and 31/12/2029 (temporary regime under article 23 of the 2022 Finance Act, extended by article 13 of the 2026 Finance Act).

Incorrect VAT setup in a NF525-certified POS or in the franchisor's ERP is the leading cause of tax reassessment among retailers and franchisees. We audit the configuration at opening and at every annual review.

Since 2018, every VAT-liable retailer using POS software to record payments must use NF525-certified software (or an editor's attestation), guaranteeing inalterability, security, retention and archiving of data, under penalty of a €7,500 fine per non-compliant software, per company. We verify your POS software (often imposed by the franchisor) and keep the editor's attestation in your permanent file.

Inventory shrinkage (theft, breakage, register errors, fraud) averages 1% to 2% of revenue in food retail and up to 3% in personal equipment. On €1m of revenue, reducing shrinkage from 1.5% to 0.8% recovers €7,000 of gross margin per year, with no price change.

We implement: rolling quarterly inventories by product family, monthly reconciliation between theoretical (POS) and physical stock, random till checks, and a formalised internal control plan (segregation of duties between cashing, receiving and inventory).

• Registered with the OEC Paris-Île-de-France; Samuel Hayot, statutory auditor registered on the list drawn up by the Haute autorité de l'audit (H2A).
• Sector specialisation in distribution and franchise: POS, NF525, shrinkage, OSS, DIP, royalties.
• Multi-site and international: bilingual reporting (FR/EN), US GAAP / IFRS reconciliation, transfer pricing.
• Operational steering: monthly dashboards by site, by department, by channel, not just statutory accounts.
• Partner network: real estate / employment / tax lawyers, notaries, brokers, BPI bankers.
• Direct partner access: a single, responsive contact who knows your file.

Request a discovery meeting: 58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris.

Comparison of structures for franchisees and retailers

Why create a holding from the second unit onwards?

A SAS holding (parent) owning the SARL or SAS operating subsidiaries (daughters) unlocks the parent-subsidiary regime: upstreamed dividends are 95% IS-exempt. The holding can then borrow to finance subsequent openings (LBO/OBO leverage), repaying via future dividends without draining operating cash. It also simplifies transmission and partner integration (junior franchisees, operational managers).

Starting profile: a franchised SARL, consolidated turnover €920,000 across 2 Paris units, 14 employees, network royalties 7% operating + 2% advertising = €82,800/year. Director compensation €48,000 gross (TNS). Pre-tax profit: €62,000.

Problem: without a holding, profits meant for reinvestment suffered double taxation (IS in the SARL then IR on the director's dividends) and the director could not finance the third unit without personal contribution.

What the engagement covers:

1. Creation of a SAS holding owning 100% of the existing SARL.
2. Dividends upstreamed to the holding: €50,000/year, IS due only on a €2,500 share for costs and charges (5%) thanks to the parent-subsidiary regime.
3. The holding borrows €180,000 to finance the third site, repaid by future dividends.
4. Monthly analytical reporting per site (turnover, purchases, payroll, royalties, shrinkage) operational in 30 days.
5. Optimised director compensation: €55,000 gross + €20,000 holding dividends.

Result: annual tax saving of €11,200, third site financed without additional personal contribution, per-site dashboard operational in under a month, TASCOM and NF525 compliance secured.

Mistake 1: Booking the entry fee directly as an expense. A €25,000 entry fee expensed in year one creates a €3,750 unjustified IS deduction and an almost-certain audit assessment risk.

Mistake 2: Failing to reconcile royalties monthly. Some networks bill on bases or rates that drift from the contract. Without monthly verification, the franchisee overpays without noticing.

Mistake 3: Ignoring TASCOM. Above 400 m², form n°3350 is mandatory; an omission triggers penalties, late interest and a 3-year back-tax assessment.

Mistake 4: Confusing fonds de commerce and fonds commercial. Misclassification on the balance sheet creates either non-deductible over-amortisation or a missed impairment provision.

Mistake 5: Non-NF525 cash register. €7,500 fine per non-compliant software, per company, where the certificate or the vendor's attestation cannot be produced.

Mistake 6: Multiplying companies without a holding. Each independent SARL site generates sub-optimal taxation on inter-company flows. The holding, created from the second site onwards, simplifies these flows.

Mistake 7: Ignoring the sector collective agreement. Fast food (IDCC 1501), food retail (IDCC 2216), ready-to-wear (IDCC 1483): labour-law breaches are the leading cause of URSSAF audits among franchisees.

For directors of family-owned or wealth-holding businesses, we support the decisions that affect their personal assets: the income tax return, IFI (real estate wealth tax), the choice of health and serious-risk provident contracts (both individual and collective, with a formal-compliance check to avoid a tax and social-security reassessment), assistance during personal tax audits, and structuring the acquisition of the operating real estate through an SCI taxed under IR or IS. We mobilise a network of notaries, tax and employment lawyers, and insurance brokers to round out our work.

We deploy the production tools suited to tracking margin by product type (LGO/ERP, EBICS, supplier-invoice OCR). We produce your accounts on a collaborative accounting platform, built around an open API that connects to the applications retailers use every day: professional neobanks, NF525-certified cash register software, e-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop), marketplaces (Amazon, Cdiscount), payroll tools and invoice OCR. Thanks to agreements with most banks, we automatically retrieve your banking flows via EBICS. Your teams can work on your financial data in real time, or hand the full bookkeeping over to us.

• Registered with the OEC Paris-Île-de-France; Samuel Hayot, statutory auditor registered on the list drawn up by the Haute autorité de l'audit (H2A) and a member of the Compagnie régionale des commissaires aux comptes de Paris.
• Sector specialisation in distribution and franchise: POS, NF525, shrinkage, OSS, DIP, royalties, TASCOM.
• Multi-site and international: bilingual reporting (FR/EN), US GAAP / IFRS reconciliation, transfer pricing documentation.
• Operational steering: monthly dashboards by site, by department, by channel, not just statutory accounts at year-end.
• Partner network: commercial-lease and employment lawyers, notaries, BPI bankers, brokers.
• Direct partner access: a single, responsive contact who knows your file.

Free quote within 24 hours, first diagnostic meeting on the house: review your DIP, your entry-fee accounting, your TASCOM exposure, your NF525 compliance and your multi-site / holding structure roadmap.

• Holding and tax optimization
• Holding vs SCI: which legal arrangement to choose?
• Growth strategy & M&A
• Outsourced DAF for SMEs and startups
• Retail and commerce sector
• Legal advisory