The FEC, fichier des écritures comptables, is the copy of all accounting entries for a financial year that a French business keeping computerised accounts hands to the tax authority during an audit. It is a flat text file or an XML file following a published schema, with the field names in the first line of a text file. Your accounting software produces it. It is not an e-invoice.
What is in a FEC?
The detailed entries from the journals for the audited year, including opening entries that carry over the previous year's balances, numbered chronologically without gaps. Centralisation entries are excluded in favour of the underlying detail (BOFiP, in French). Each line carries fields such as the journal code and name, the entry number and date, the account number and name, the label and the debit or credit amount. The fields and their order are set by article A47 A-1 of the Livre des procédures fiscales (Légifrance, in French), and the XML schemas are on impots.gouv.fr (in French).
FEC, e-invoice and bank statement
| File | Holds | Who makes it |
|---|---|---|
| FEC | every accounting entry of one year | your accounting software |
| Factur-X | one invoice | the seller |
| CFONB 120 | one bank account's movements | the bank |
Klarbon does not open, check or produce FEC files. This is general information, not tax advice; your accountant can tell you what an audit requires.
Related
Frequently asked questions
When do I need a FEC?
When the French tax authority audits a business that keeps its accounts on a computer. The business hands over a copy of its accounting entries for each audited year in the FEC format.
Is a FEC an e-invoice?
No. A FEC holds the bookkeeping entries of a whole year, journal by journal. An e-invoice is one invoice. Your accounting software produces the FEC.
Can Klarbon open or check a FEC?
No, not today. Klarbon works with e-invoices and bank statements.