The Plan Comptable Général (PCG) is the French accounting standard: it sets the rules for measuring, recording and presenting accounts, along with the standardised list of accounts (the “chart of accounts”). It is defined by regulation no. 2014-03 of the French Accounting Standards Authority (ANC), which is updated regularly. Complying with it is the condition for accounts that are regular and true.
The chart of accounts is organised into eight classes, identified by the first digit of the account number. Classes 1 to 5 are the balance-sheet accounts: 1 equity, 2 fixed assets, 3 inventories and work in progress, 4 third-party accounts (customers, suppliers, the State), 5 financial accounts. Classes 6 and 7 are the profit-and-loss accounts: 6 expenses, 7 income, whose balance forms the net result. Class 8 brings together special accounts (off-balance-sheet commitments, etc.).
This hierarchical coding lets every business speak the same accounting language: account “411” always means customers, account “707” means sales of goods. It governs the production of the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement) and the content of the Fichier des Écritures Comptables (accounting entries file).
Depending on the size of the business, the PCG provides three systems for presenting accounts — abridged, basic and developed — with increasing levels of detail. In eyeot's finance module, each entry is tied to a PCG account number, which structures the trial balance and the regulatory export.