The CNCC publishes the 5th edition of its annual barometer

The study by the Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes is based on an exhaustive analysis of data from activity declarations made in 2024 by professionals on audits carried out in respect of the 2023 financial year, and the results of a survey conducted in March 2025, to which more than 1,500 professionals responded, enabling a detailed and representative assessment of changes in their activity. 

French SMEs less and less protected by the intervention of statutory auditors 

In France, the presence of statutory auditors among SMEs and SMIs is in steady decline. This decline is mainly due to the lasting effects of the 2019 PACTE Act and an increase in thresholds of 20 % in 2024, comments the CNCC. Between 2022 and 2023, 15,800 companies faced with the choice of renewing their statutory auditor outside of a legal obligation chose not to do so. 

For a number of years, the CNCC has been warning of the risk of fragility associated with this decline on a macroeconomic scale, which is accompanied by a risk associated with the growth in the number of companies that have neither a statutory auditor nor a chartered accountant: almost 31 % of the SMEs studied in the barometer have no chartered accountant, a proportion that rises to around 50 % for entities with a turnover of between 8 and 10 million euros. In these companies, the statutory auditor is often the only guarantor of the regularity and reliability of the accounts. 

Over the past few years, the rate of voluntary renewal of mandates has stabilised below the legal certification thresholds at around 44 %. However, the growth momentum of the French economy has helped to offset part of the negative trend linked to the effects of the PACTE Act, with 11,000 companies coming within the scope of financial statement certification, including 7,000 voluntary companies in the SME sector. 

In practice, notes the CNCC, managers voluntarily turn to the certification of their accounts and other statutory audit engagements whenever the size, governance or complexity of their business justifies it, this approach being clearly perceived by their economic environment and their stakeholders as a guarantee of confidence. 

The 2025 barometer confirms that, for companies, the proximity of the legal thresholds for appointment is associated with a need for confidence, to which the certification of accounts provides a relevant response. In 2023, 99,400 French companies had their accounts certified on a voluntary basis. For these SMEs, auditing their annual accounts represents an average cost of 0.18 % of their sales, a cost to be set against the benefits in terms of access to finance, business opportunities and risk control. 

In addition to their traditional mission," continues the CNCC, "the statutory auditors are actively involved in helping companies to address the challenges of sustainability, a subject which, in the eyes of managers, takes precedence over other major issues, such as the integration of new technologies and artificial intelligence into their business.