Chapter I: Organisation and supervision of the profession

The files and documents drawn up by the statutory auditor pursuant to article R. 823-10 are kept for six years, even after termination of office. For the purposes of audits and investigations, they are kept at the disposal of the supervisory authorities, which may request from the statutory auditor any explanations and justifications they consider necessary concerning these documents and the transactions that must be mentioned therein.

Persons with an accounting or financial background, at least three years’ professional experience in the field of account certification and financial reporting and specific training in quality control in these areas may be appointed as auditors.

Before carrying out audit operations, auditors declare to the High Council or, in the event of delegation, to the Compagnie nationale des commissaires aux comptes, that they are not in a situation of conflict of interest with the statutory auditor they are responsible for auditing. They may not audit a statutory auditor if, during the previous three years, they have been a partner, employee or collaborator of that statutory auditor.

The inspections referred to in Article L. 821-9 are carried out on the basis of a risk analysis. In particular, they cover: 1° Certification assignments selected by the auditor. In particular, the auditor shall verify compliance with the rules of independence, compliance with the standards referred to in I of Article L. 821-13, the adequacy of the resources allocated to carrying out the assignments and the fees received by the…

The inspections provided for in article L. 821-9 are carried out on the basis of documents or on site. Without prejudice to the provisions of article L. 821-12, the auditors may ask the statutory auditor to provide them with any documents or records and may inspect them on site or off-site, regardless of the medium used. They may also request explanations on the files and documents drawn up pursuant to…

The auditor provides the statutory auditor with a preliminary report setting out the audit operations carried out and their results, so that the statutory auditor can submit its observations within one month. The auditor then draws up a final report setting out the main conclusions of the audit and the statutory auditor’s observations. Where applicable, the recommendations made by the High Council shall be notified to the statutory auditor by…