What is the accounting examination for a company?

The accounting examination introduced with the law of December 29, 2016 on "rectifying finances", gives a new face to tax audits. Indeed, this scheme gives the tax authorities the opportunity to carry out their tax audit operations remotely, basing themselves on the accounts kept and submitted by companies in an entirely dematerialized format.

Today we take a look at the accounting exam for a business!

How does the corporate accounting exam work?

In the final analysis, the accounting exam is fairly straightforward.

Whereas an accounting audit is a check carried out on the company's premises by the tax authorities, in order to compare certain data with the information that has been declared, an accounting examination enables control operations to be carried out entirely remotely.

This is known as "office accounting control".

This means that companies subject to an audit must send the tax authorities their accounting records within two weeks of receiving a notice.

Following this, the tax authorities have 6 months to check the veracity of the information sent. During this period, oral and written exchanges can take place with the company. A truly dematerialized procedure is thus put in place.

Once the audit is complete, the tax authorities will send the taxpayer a rectifying proposal if irregularities have been observed, or a notice of no adjustment.

In the final analysis, this type of control is not only less intrusive for the company, but also much less time-consuming than an audit.

Who must undergo this inspection? 

This accounting test is designed for all types of company, whatever their legal form. There is no difference between a very small company and a listed multinational .

In practice, however, we observe specific treatments for small structures.

In fact, in the end, the accounting examination is used more to check the accounts of small companies, while the majority of large groups are still subject to the accounting audit and therefore to a direct on-site audit.

In fact, the text of the law clearly states that "this type of control is not intended to apply to companies that present high risks, or whose size and complexity require an on-site control".

In conclusion, in France today, there is a desire to dematerialize all tax and accounting administrative procedures.

So it's clear that the French administration is committed to developing tele-procedures to simplify and streamline verification procedures as much as possible, and save time and money in the process.