The audit market in France

According to the triennial report of the Haute autorité de l’audit (H2A, the French audit regulator) published in July 2025, 18,260 statutory auditors were registered in France at 31 December 2024. Only 219 of them held mandates with public-interest entities (PIEs) in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of entities subject to a statutory audit requirement fell by almost 17% between 2021 and 2024, which shrinks the statutory audit market in France.

According to the Haute autorité de l’audit, the five largest networks capture 54% of statutory audit fees in France in 2024: the market remains open to a large number of firms. On public-interest entities, these five networks share 88% of fees, with no dominant player and positions close to 2021. Deloitte France joins Deloitte EMEA on 1 June 2026, a group with €20bn in turnover and 132,000 employees, according to Les Echos (February 2026).

In France, most commercial companies (SARL, SAS, SA, SNC…) must appoint a statutory auditor when they exceed two of the following three thresholds: €5m of balance sheet total, €10m of turnover excluding tax and 50 employees, according to the official site Entreprendre.Service-Public.fr (April 2025). Lower thresholds apply to small groups. The mandate lasts 6 years, renewable, or 3 years for a voluntary appointment, which shapes the demand for statutory audit.

The CSRD directive created a sustainability information assurance engagement in France. According to its 2025 annual report, the Haute autorité de l’audit had accredited, at the end of 2025, 3,961 statutory auditors, 38 sustainability auditors and 19 independent third-party bodies, before the so-called grandfather clause ended on 31 December 2025. Of 767 inspections carried out in 2025, 10 units underwent a specific inspection of this engagement, while the Omnibus package simplifies the framework.

In statutory audit firms in France, generative AI automates tedious tasks, document summarisation, accounting reconciliations and anomaly detection, according to a survey of 11 auditors from 6 firms published by the Revue française de gestion (January 2026), which also stresses confidentiality and ethics issues. The large networks are investing: Deloitte EMEA plans more than €1.5bn over four years, notably in AI, according to Les Echos (February 2026).

A PDF report in French, 2026 edition, organised in six chapters: definition and scope of audit, market size and dynamics, audit demand, supply and players, regulation and supervision, outlook for the audit market.

The reports of the Haute autorité de l’audit, Eurostat statistics, official texts and information from the administration, and trade press articles from the IndexPresse database. Every figure comes with its source and period.

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