Accounting, economics and management in France: the slow emergence of an 'accounting science'

Abstract

The relationship (or what might be better described as the absence of a relationship) between accounting, economics and management is an important feature of a French tradition built on a society in which accountants have been regarded as the ‘poor relations’ of the business community. This pattern is presented in the second part of the title of this article as ‘the slow emergence of an accounting science’. French business traditions have influenced accounting mainly through the property rights established by the French Revolution. The French bourgeoisie's concern with inheritance gave rise to a form of accounting which emphasized the balance sheet and inventory valuation, rather than cash flow analysis. Throughout the 19th century accounting in France was taught as a technical subject, secondary to the ‘noble’ disciplines such as engineering, law and later, economics. In the mid-20th century, the state, via the ‘Conseil National de la Comptabilité’ (the National Accounting Council) laid down accounting principles under the ‘Plan Comptable’. The separation between financial accounting and cost accounting reflected that between entrepreneurs or owners on the one hand and engineers or administrators on the other. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon countries, France did not recognize accountancy as a profession in its own right until recently. Recent years have seen a radical transformation of French accounting policies and conventions under the combined influence of the emerging requirements of financial markets, the globalization of business and the growing independence of the accountancy profession.