Buying an Accountancy Practice in France: Complete Guide
France counts 21,000 accountancy firms with 40 % of principals above 55, creating a dense transmission market tracked by the Ordre des Experts-Comptables. Valuations sit at 0.7 to 1.2 times recurring fees or 4 to 7 times normalised EBITDA. This guide covers regulatory framework, valuation methods, sourcing through the Ordre Transmission portal and specialist M&A firms, due diligence (particularly URSSAF overtime risk), financing with vendor loans, and post-deal integration.
# Buying an Accountancy Practice in France: The Complete Guide The French accountancy profession numbers around 21,000 firms registered with the Ordre des Experts-Comptables (OEC), for a population of about 22,500 qualified expert-comptables. The age pyramid is sharply skewed: over 40 % of practice principals are above 55, and nearly 30 % expect to sell within five years. The transmission market is dense, structured, and unusually well-tracked by the Ordre itself, which runs an internal transmission portal and maintains granular statistics. Buying a French practice means acquiring a recurring-…