Become a chartered accountant: test-drive the job before a career change

A typical day

• 8.30 am: you go through today's files and the documents clients uploaded to the portal overnight.
• 9.30 am: a meeting with a bakery owner worried that her cash keeps falling.
• 11 am: you review a bank reconciliation prepared by an assistant, with two gaps to explain.
• 1.30 pm: you check the entries suggested by the software, starting with the large amounts.
• 3 pm: team catch-up on this month's VAT return calendar.
• 4.30 pm: a workshop with three clients on choosing an e-invoicing platform.
• 6 pm: final read-through and sign-off of a tax return pack before filing.

How to become a chartered accountant

In France, expert-comptable is a protected title: only holders of the diploma of chartered accountancy (DEC) registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables may use it. The path runs through the DCG (bac+3, 13 units), the DSCG (bac+5, 7 units), a 3-year traineeship with a chartered accountant, including at least 24 months in a firm, and finally the three DEC exams, one of them a dissertation. Allow at least eight years after the bac. Career changers can shorten the path through exemptions linked to earlier degrees, work-study or accreditation of prior experience (VAE, after 3 years in the field). In English-speaking countries, chartered accountancy is also a long qualification combining exams and supervised work. The G-Learn trial is a first step to see whether the job suits you: its certificate is not a diploma and does not replace any professional qualification.

Pay

Salaries vary widely by region and status. An assistant, a manager, a salaried chartered accountant and a partner earn very different amounts, which also depend on the size of the firm, the client portfolio handled and management responsibilities.

The hard parts

• A very long path: two diplomas, three years of traineeship and a dissertation, often eight years or more, with demanding exams to fit around a job.
• Workload peaks every year, from closing the accounts to filing tax returns, with long days from January to May and deadlines that cannot be moved.
• Heavy responsibility: your signature commits you, and sometimes you must say no to a client who asks you to massage the figures.

Sources: Tool Advisor — 12 chiffres sur l'expertise comptable en 2026 (Observatoire de la profession comptable, Omeca) · Hayot Expertise — Diplôme d'expert-comptable : le guide du DEC 2026 · CIDJ — Diplôme d'expertise comptable (DEC) · La finance pour tous — Facturation électronique (26-08-2026)