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You keep the accounts of a French company subject to corporation tax

Keeping and closing my accounts

Keep proper books, depreciate fixed assets over the right period, post the year-end entries, have the accounts approved by the shareholders and filed with the registry — and work out whether a statutory auditor becomes mandatory under the three thresholds. 12 steps, from the daily entry to filing the balance sheet.

Start here: Keeping your accounting books

Understand: bookkeeping, depreciation, year-end closing, approval and filing

  1. Step 1 of 12
    CoursePaid individually26 min

    Keeping your accounting books

    The three duties of article L123-12, the four items every entry must state and the ten-year retention, then the move from the day book to the general ledger and the monthly consolidation of subsidiary books. Three modules on a joinery turning over 640 000 €. All the prose is free to read; the case study and quizzes are sold.
  2. Step 2 of 12
    CoursePaid individually25 min

    Depreciating fixed assets

    The accounting duty of a depreciation plan against tax deductibility conditioned on trade practice, the three reducing-balance coefficients, then the article 39 B floor whose breach forfeits the deduction for good. Three modules on a 90 000 € lorry. All the prose is free to read; the case study and quizzes are sold.
  3. Step 3 of 12
    CoursePaid individually25 min

    Closing your financial year

    Year-end accounting work, module by module: depreciating an asset over its useful life, booking a provision that meets all four conditions, attaching each transaction to the right year. Three modules following the closing at TechBâtiment SAS. All the prose is free to read; only the quizzes are sold.
  4. Step 4 of 12
    CoursePaid individually25 min

    Approving and filing annual accounts

    The six months to approve and the three documents submitted, the month to file at the registry — two online — and what goes in, then the option to file without publishing everything. Three modules on a joinery closing on 31 December. All the prose is free to read; the case study and quizzes are sold.
  5. Step 5 of 12
    CoursePaid individually26 min

    Appointing a statutory auditor

    The three thresholds and the two-out-of-three rule, what certification really attests — and what it does not —, then the six-year mandate against the three-year one. Three modules following a growing French company. All the prose is free to read; only the quizzes are sold.

Compute: depreciation charges, cash flow, statutory-auditor thresholds

  1. Step 6 of 12
    CalculatorFree result

    Straight-line and declining-balance depreciation

    Enter the original cost, the useful life and the month the asset entered service: you get the rates, the pro-rated first charge and the full schedule, straight-line, declining-balance or both side by side.
  2. Step 7 of 12
    CalculatorFree result

    Cash flow from operations (CAF)

    Pick your starting point — net income or gross operating surplus — then enter the items to be restated: you get the cash flow from operations, the amount retained after dividends, its share of revenue, and your debt repayment capacity in years.
  3. Step 8 of 12
    CalculatorFree result

    Statutory auditor appointment thresholds

    Appointment becomes mandatory as soon as two of the three thresholds of your regime are exceeded: balance sheet total, net turnover and average headcount are each assessed separately, then counted.

File: balance sheet, profit and loss account, depreciation schedule

  1. Step 9 of 12
    FormFree30 min

    French Cerfa 2050 — balance sheet assets

    Form 2050 (balance sheet assets, standard regime): fixed assets, inventories, receivables and cash line by line — guide, worked example and consistency checks.
  2. Step 10 of 12
    FormFree30 min

    French Cerfa 2051 — balance sheet liabilities

    Form 2051 (balance sheet liabilities, standard regime): equity, provisions and debts line by line — guide, worked example and the cross-check with form 2053's result.
  3. Step 11 of 12
    FormFree30 min

    French form 2052 — income statement of the tax package (operations)

    Operating income and expenses in the French tax package: what form 2052-SD is for, who files it, line by line, and its consistency with VAT and form 2053.
  4. Step 12 of 12
    FormFree25 min

    Form 2055 — depreciation of the French tax package

    Form 2055 (depreciation, standard regime): accumulated at opening, the year's charge, disposals, accumulated at closing, plus the split of accelerated tax depreciation — guide, worked example and the reconciliation with the 2050 asset balance sheet.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

Read in French