Between the DSCG and the French chartered accountancy diploma (DEC) lie three years of supervised practice that many students only discover when signing their first contract: the chartered accountancy traineeship (stage d’expertise comptable). It is not an internship in the student sense of the word. The trainee chartered accountant (expert-comptable stagiaire) is an employee of a firm, registered with the Order, supervised by a training principal and a traineeship inspector, with training sessions to attend and reports to submit. This article walks through the steps based on the texts of the Order and the decree that organises the profession, then answers practical questions: changing firm, going abroad, working in a large audit network, and presenting all of this on a CV.
The conditions for registering as a trainee chartered accountant
The traineeship is governed by the decree of 30 March 2012 on the practice of chartered accountancy and by the traineeship rules published by the Order. The starting point is simple: you must hold the DSCG (or the former DESCF). The Order also allows a candidate to begin the traineeship with at least four of the seven DSCG units, provided the missing units are obtained during the first two years; otherwise, the traineeship may be suspended.
Registration is made with the regional council of the Order for the place where the traineeship takes place. The candidate files an application, the host firm appoints a training principal (maître de stage), and the trainee is entered on the roll as a trainee chartered accountant, with an annual fee.
Three points are often misunderstood:
- the status is that of an ordinary employee. The traineeship guide published by the Order states that the trainee cannot be a work-study student, a partner or a self-employed contractor. A master’s work-study contract therefore ends before the traineeship starts;
- full time means at least twenty-eight hours a week, a minimum deliberately below the legal working week to leave time for training sessions and exam preparation. In firms, most trainees actually work full time;
- the standard length is three years, but the regional council may grant a one-year reduction to a DSCG holder who can show at least three years of recent experience in accounting, legal, financial or management roles.
The role of the training principal and the traineeship inspector
Two people supervise the trainee, and their roles are distinct.
The training principal is a chartered accountant on the roll, approved by the regional council to take on trainees. They are the employer, or the employer’s representative within the firm. They give the trainee varied work, make sure it covers the different facets of the profession, allow time for the compulsory training sessions and sign off the reports. In a large firm, the training principal is often a partner who delegates day-to-day follow-up to a manager.
The traineeship inspector (contrôleur de stage) is a professional appointed by the regional council, from outside the firm. They lead some of the training days, read the half-yearly reports, meet the trainee and check that the traineeship is going well. They write an annual report sent to the regional council. This is the person a trainee can turn to if the work they are given does not meet the requirements of the traineeship.
This dual supervision is a safeguard: a firm that gave its trainee nothing but data entry for three years would be called to order.
Half-yearly reports and training days
The traineeship combines professional practice with a compulsory training programme, organised by the profession’s regional training institutes.
Training days
The training sessions cover the missions of the chartered accountant, the legal missions of the statutory auditor, firm management, ethics and the methodology of the DEC exams. Most combine an online module to complete beforehand with an in-person day, followed by a validation test. Some days are in person only, such as an annual day on audit techniques and a day on anti-money laundering in the second year. An unjustified absence from a compulsory day can delay the issue of the end-of-traineeship certificate.
Half-yearly reports
From the second year onwards, the trainee writes half-yearly reports, signed off by the training principal and then sent to the traineeship inspector. The traineeship guide specifies that they must illustrate the variety of engagements: at least two cover an accounting or advisory engagement, one covers a statutory audit engagement if the trainee wants that component validated, and one covers the draft outline and summary (notice) of the dissertation.
These reports are not a formality. They force you to step back from an engagement and describe its issues and technical choices, which prepares directly for the dissertation and the written exams. Trainees who write them at the last minute often regret it when the time comes to choose their dissertation topic.
The trainee also keeps an annual record of professional work, summarising the nature of the engagements carried out and the time spent. It is used in particular to verify the statutory audit component.
The dual-purpose traineeship
A trainee who wants to be able, once the DEC is obtained, to register on the list of statutory auditors must meet additional conditions: spend two years of the traineeship with a training principal who is both a chartered accountant and an authorised statutory auditor, and devote at least two hundred hours to statutory audit engagements, spread over those two years. A graduate whose traineeship does not meet these conditions will have to complete two additional years of statutory audit traineeship before applying for registration. The choice is therefore made at the start of the traineeship, and it is worth discussing with the training principal.
Changing firm or going abroad during the traineeship
Changing firm is common. The traineeship rules provide that the traineeship can be completed successively with several training principals, or even simultaneously part-time with two. The Order’s guide even sees it as a way of avoiding a “single-culture traineeship”. The only requirement is administrative, but it matters: departure and arrival must be reported to the traineeship department of the regional council, by registered letter or by email with acknowledgement of receipt. An unreported interruption may be treated as a suspension, which counts towards a limited allowance.
Going abroad is possible. All three years can be completed in another European Union member state, with a professional practising a profession comparable to that of a French chartered accountant. Outside the Union, part of the traineeship remains possible under conditions, and the file is then handled by the regional council of Paris Île-de-France.
One year can be spent in industry. The decree provides for a derogatory year with a person who enables the trainee to gain experience close to chartered accountancy, for example a senior manager in an accounting or finance department, in France or abroad, including under the international corporate volunteering scheme (VIE). The guide recommends placing it in the third year, once the audit hours have been completed.
Doing the traineeship in a large audit network is perfectly possible, provided the firm has an approved training principal. The trainee will mostly do audit work; they must make sure their reports also cover accounting or advisory engagements, which sometimes means asking to join a different engagement for a few weeks.
Mentioning the traineeship on a CV
For a firm’s recruiter, who applies the same criteria as those described in our audit CV method, the chartered accountancy traineeship is front-line information: it tells them when you will be able to sit the DEC, which engagements the firm must give you, and whether you will one day be able to sign audit opinions.
A few presentation rules:
- in the summary, give your year of traineeship: “trainee chartered accountant in the second year of the traineeship” is read in a second;
- in a dedicated section, give the regional council you are registered with, the start date, the expected length and, if chosen, the planned dissertation topic;
- in your experience, distinguish the accounting share from the statutory audit share, with volumes: number of client files, engagements, types of clients;
- mention the dual-purpose traineeship if you are following it: a firm that practises statutory audit will pay attention to it.
Before / after:
- Before: “DEC traineeship in progress in an accounting firm.”
- After: “Trainee chartered accountant (2nd year, registered with the Pays de la Loire regional council of the Order): review of 32 SME client files and work on 7 statutory audit engagements; half-yearly reports up to date.”
Our trainee chartered accountant CV example shows this presentation on a full CV, and the article on accounting diplomas on a CV covers the education section in detail. To compare the two professions the traineeship leads to, see also what sets a chartered accountant apart from a statutory auditor.
After the traineeship: the end of the road to the DEC
At the end of the three years, the regional council assesses how the trainee has fulfilled their obligations and issues, or refuses, the end-of-traineeship certificate (attestation de fin de stage). It opens registration for the DEC exams and remains valid for six years, with a possible extension under conditions. Beyond that, a further year of traineeship is needed to obtain a new one.
The DEC consists of two written exams (professional regulation and ethics; statutory and contractual audit of accounts) and the dissertation, written and then defended before a jury. The exam is held twice a year, in May and November. The dissertation is often what makes the path drag on, since it is written alongside a full-time job; our guide to the chartered accountancy dissertation helps you plan for it from the traineeship onwards.
When you change firm during or after the traineeship, the CV editor lets you start from a structure suited to the chartered accountancy path: it handles the layout and produces a PDF that firms’ screening software reads without errors.
Sources
- Ordre des experts-comptables, the chartered accountancy curriculum 🔗.
- Légifrance, decree no. 2012-432 of 30 March 2012 on the practice of chartered accountancy 🔗.
- National Council of the Order, national traineeship committee, the chartered accountancy traineeship rules, application guide 🔗.
- Onisep, the DEC chartered accountancy diploma 🔗.
Frequently asked questions
Can the chartered accountancy traineeship be done as a work-study contract?
No. The trainee must be an ordinary employee of the firm; work-study status is not accepted. Work-study takes place earlier, during the DCG, the DSCG or the master’s degree.
Can the traineeship last two years instead of three?
Yes, if the regional council grants a one-year reduction to a DSCG holder who can show at least three years of recent experience in accounting, legal, financial or management roles. The training and reporting obligations remain the same.
What happens if you change firm without informing the Order?
The interruption may be treated as a suspension of the traineeship, with a risk of delay. Simply reporting the departure and arrival to the traineeship department avoids this.
Does the traineeship make it possible to become a statutory auditor?
Yes, if it meets the conditions of the dual-purpose traineeship: two years with a training principal authorised for statutory audit and at least two hundred hours of statutory audit work.