After two or three seasons in an audit firm, many careers reach the same question: keep climbing the grades, or change the setting? Some auditors choose to join an accounting practice, known in France as a cabinet d’expertise comptable. There they find a portfolio of small businesses, business owners they speak to directly, and engagements that do not stop on 30 April. The change is less radical than it looks, since both jobs belong to the same profession and often the same diploma, but it requires relearning part of the work. This article compares the two jobs, takes stock of what you already master, names the skills to acquire (tax, payroll and employment law, advisory), measures the effect of the move on the DEC traineeship and shows how to rewrite your CV so that you are read as a candidate for accounting practice, not as an auditor passing through.
Two jobs within the same profession
Audit and accounting practice are often confused because they are carried out in the same firms, prepared through the same studies and lead to the same diploma. Their logic is nonetheless different.
The auditor steps in to check. In statutory audit, he or she gives an opinion on whether an entity’s accounts are regular and fair, within a legal framework and with a requirement of independence. The assignment is a one-off in the year, highly structured, carried out in a team with work programmes and files to justify. The auditor does not keep the client’s books and does not tell the client what to decide.
The expert-comptable steps in to support. Onisep describes the main activity as advising businesses: beyond bookkeeping, the professional brings financial, tax or legal expertise to help them make the best decisions. He or she prepares the annual accounts, but also tax returns, payroll in some firms, interim statements, and answers the business owner’s questions throughout the year.
In practice, four things change in daily life:
- the client: in audit, you mostly meet a finance director and an accounting team; in practice, you often speak to the owner, who is not an accountant and expects a clear answer;
- the rhythm: audit is paced by the season, with workload peaks known in advance; practice is steadier, with tax and payroll deadlines that come back every month and every quarter;
- the scope: the auditor looks at one cycle or one file at a time; the practice associate follows a client from end to end, from data entry to the balance sheet, from VAT to the tax return package;
- the relationship: an auditor keeps a professional distance from the audited entity, whereas an expert-comptable builds a relationship of trust and advice with clients.
If you still hesitate about the nature of each practice, our article on what distinguishes the expert-comptable from the statutory auditor sets out the definitions and the incompatibility rules.
What the auditor already knows how to do
An auditor who changes track is not a beginner. He or she brings a practice several strengths that a graduate fresh from school does not yet have.
A critical reading of accounts. You are used to looking at a balance sheet and spotting what does not hold: a third-party account that never moves, a provision that has not been reviewed, a cut-off difference. In a practice, this reading serves to make the books reliable before they go to a banker or a statutory auditor.
Knowledge of cycles and controls. Purchases, sales, inventory, fixed assets, cash, payroll: you have worked on each cycle with a work programme. This gives you a method for organising the review of an SME file, which most associates trained only in bookkeeping do not have.
Tools and documentary rigour. Keeping a working file, tracing a conclusion, explaining a point to a manager are audit reflexes that transfer directly. You also have experience of data extraction and testing software, useful when a practice wants to industrialise its controls. Our article on describing audit engagements on a CV details these strengths.
The habit of pressure and deadlines. Having gone through several closing seasons is a strong signal for a partner: the workload of the balance-sheet months will not surprise you.
The point to keep in mind: these strengths are real, but they sit mostly upstream or downstream of accounting production. What you lack is what happens in the middle.
The skills to acquire
A practice will hire you for what you know, but will judge you on how fast you learn. Three areas concentrate most of the step up.
Tax
In audit, you check that a tax charge is correctly recorded. In practice, you calculate, file and advise. This covers VAT (regimes, returns, refunds), corporate income tax and the tax return package, the taxation of business owners and, depending on the clientele, that of individuals and liberal professions. Most firms train their staff on software, but the underlying logic must be understood: better to prepare before the interview by revising the basics of business taxation.
Payroll and employment law
Payroll, contributions, employment contracts and filing obligations are rarely explored in depth in audit, where the personnel cycle is tested by sampling. Many practices run their clients’ payroll or advise their owners on employment law. If you have never built a payslip, this is probably the biggest step: ask to see how the practice organises its payroll training. Onisep also lists employment law among the fields on which the expert-comptable advises clients.
Advisory and client relations
This is the most subtle. A small-business owner does not read a balance sheet like a finance director. He or she wants to know whether to hire, invest, take a higher salary, borrow. Translating figures into a decision, writing a clear email, running a meeting to present the accounts, proposing an additional engagement (forecast, support for a start-up, business transfer) is a skill in its own right. It is learned by watching an experienced colleague, then by practice.
On top of this comes versatility. In audit, you are an expert on one cycle; in practice, you handle a whole file with more modest means. The auditors who adapt best are those who accept to do accounting production again, even if it feels like a step back, because it gives them the knowledge of the file on which advice depends.
Effect on the accounting traineeship
For a candidate preparing the DEC, the traineeship is often the first question put to firms. The expert-comptable traineeship lasts three years in principle, with a supervising expert registered with the Ordre. It can be completed successively with several supervisors, and the Ordre’s rules even encourage a variety of assignments rather than a “monoculture traineeship”. Moving from audit to practice is therefore possible during the traineeship, provided it is reported to the regional council.
Several points deserve your attention:
- the half-yearly reports must illustrate a variety of assignments. If your traineeship has mostly involved audit, joining a practice lets you present accounting or advisory assignments, which the Ordre’s guide expects in the reports;
- the statutory audit component must be anticipated. A trainee who wants to be able to register later on the list of statutory auditors must meet the conditions of the dual-purpose traineeship; leaving a firm that carries out statutory audit may therefore complicate this goal, and you should discuss it with the new supervisor before signing;
- the reduction in length: the rules allow, under conditions, the traineeship to be shortened by one year for a DSCG holder with recent experience in accounting, law, finance or management. Your audit seasons may count in that assessment, but the decision rests with the regional council;
- the formality: departure and arrival must be declared to the traineeship department, failing which the interruption may be treated as a suspension.
Our article on the DEC accounting traineeship walks through these steps, and the one on the expert-comptable thesis shows how a mixed audit and practice experience can feed a topic. Always check your exact situation with your regional council: the traineeship rules are set by the decree of 30 March 2012 and the Ordre’s regulations, and their details change.
Rewriting your CV for an accounting practice
An auditor’s CV is organised around method: standards, cycles, file size, tools. For a practice, the centre of gravity must shift towards the portfolio, autonomy and client relations.
The headline. Announce the change and what you bring:
- Before: “Audit associate, 3 seasons, DSCG, looking for a change.”
- After: “Audit associate (3 seasons, DSCG) wishing to join an accounting practice: review of SME files, used to closings and keen on direct contact with business owners.”
The experience. Reword your audit assignments, keeping what speaks to a practice partner: types of clients (SMEs, family groups, associations), sectors, cycles reviewed, counterparts met, points you raised that led to a correction. Do not inflate your experience: if you have not kept books, write that you reviewed files kept by others.
The skills. Show the building blocks the practice expects: VAT, tax return package, balance sheet, the accounting software you know, and any training followed in tax or payroll. If you are still learning, say so frankly rather than displaying a level that the interview will contradict.
The path to the DEC. State the traineeship year, the regional council of registration and the date you obtained the DSCG. A partner wants to know when you will be able to sit the diploma.
The reason for the change. One sentence is enough, positive and concrete: the taste for the relationship with the owner, the wish to follow a file from end to end, a plan to practise on your own one day. Avoid phrases that criticise audit.
Our example CV of a trainee expert-comptable shows a complete presentation of the DEC path, and the article on unsolicited applications to an accounting practice helps you target firms. A CV that changes register must above all be readable in a few seconds: the CV editor handles the layout for you and produces a PDF that firms’ screening software reads without errors, so that a change of positioning is not lost in a badly structured file.
Common mistakes when making the move
Presenting yourself as an auditor who “can’t take any more”. Practice partners hire people motivated by the job, not runaways. Talk about what you come to look for.
Underestimating the technical step. Tax and payroll cannot be improvised. A candidate who claims to master everything in interview loses credibility against one who knows what to learn and how.
Forgetting pay and rhythm. The change may alter your pay, your workload and the distribution of your hours across the year. Do not draw conclusions from a rumour: compare concrete offers, question the firm’s employees and have the contract reviewed.
Neglecting the traineeship formality. Changing firms without informing the regional council, or without discussing the statutory audit component, can slow the path to the DEC. Notify, check, keep a record.
Not aiming at the right firm. A neighbourhood practice, a multidisciplinary regional firm and a national network have neither the same clientele nor the same organisation. Find out before applying, and adapt your letter and your CV to each. You can also prepare for the recruitment tests of accounting practices.
Submitting an auditor’s CV unchanged. A practice partner who reads “analytical review of the sales and purchases cycles” with no mention of a client, an owner or a return will wonder whether you want this new job. Reword it.
Sources
- Onisep, the profession of expert-comptable 🔗.
- Ordre des experts-comptables, the accounting profession pathway 🔗.
- Légifrance, decree no. 2012-432 of 30 March 2012 on the practice of accounting 🔗.
- Onisep, the DEC, the accounting diploma 🔗.
Questions fréquentes
Can you move from audit to accounting practice without further study?
Yes. Both jobs rely on the same diplomas (DCG, DSCG, master CCA, then DEC). A qualified auditor can join a practice without going back to school, but will often need to learn tax and payroll on the job.
Do you have to become a junior associate again when changing firms?
Not necessarily. The entry level depends on the firm, your experience and your autonomy on files. Some firms recognise audit seasons, others place you on simpler files while you build skills. Discuss it before signing.
Does changing firms delay the DEC?
Not in itself. The traineeship can be completed with several successive supervisors. What delays it is an interruption not reported to the regional council, or a traineeship whose reports do not cover the expected variety of assignments. Declare the change and check your situation with your regional council.
What should the CV headline say for an accounting practice?
Your diploma level, your years in audit, the traineeship year if you are a trainee, and a sentence on what you come to look for: the relationship with the owner, following a file from end to end. Avoid criticising your current firm.
Can you return to audit after a few years in practice?
It is common, and experience on both sides is valued, notably for a manager role or for statutory audit. Just keep a CV that shows what you did in each firm and the volumes handled.