Integrated accounting à la française: the perspective of the système croisé

Abstract

This paper examines the way in which cost accounting is decoupled from the financial accounting model that is circumscribed by the framework of the French plan comptable(i.e. comptabilité générale). Some attendant problems are investigated, and the conflicting views of leading commentators on French accounting are brought to bear. In particular, the tension between managerial accounting requirements of enterprise accounting, on the one hand, and the macroeconomic orientation of comptabilité générale, on the other, are analysed. Finally, the paper offers a concise appraisal of the Système Croisé, an integrated accounting model that was designed to resolve problems arising from the gulf between cost accounting and financial accounting in France.