The accounting software market - France (2024)

1.2 A fast-growing global market

Global market size

Global accounting software market Worldwide, ****-****, in billions of dollars CAGR +*.*% Source: ****

By ****, the global accounting software market is valued at $**.* billion. Forecast data point to very strong growth over the coming years, with a CAGR of +*.**% over the period ****-****. The market should thus reach a size of $**.** billion by ****. This strong growth will be driven primarily by the digital transformation undertaken by many companies. Moreover, this transformation will mainly take place via Cloud Computing, through Software as a Service (***).

The players

The global accounting software market is fairly concentrated, with a relatively small number of players holding the majority of market share. Some of the major players include Oracle Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Intuit Inc, SAP SE, Sage Software Inc, Infor Inc, Epicor Software Corporation, Xero Ltd, Unit* Business Software Limited, among others.

Cloud computing

One of the services offered by Cloud Computing is SaaS (***), which enables software to be accessed online. The definition of SaaS is described in detail in section *.*.

In Europe, by ****, **% of businesses were buying Cloud Computing. By ****, this share had risen to **.*%.

Share of companies purchasing cloud computing services Europe, **** - ****, as % of total Source: ****

Source: ****

In terms of SaaS accounting software ...

1.3 French accounting software market driven by growth of French software publishers

To begin with, here are the sales trends for the software market:

Software sales France, ****-****, in billions of euros Source: ****

Between **** and ****, software sales grew at an average annual rate of *.*%, reaching a value of **.* billion euros in ****. Between **** and ****, growth was *%, * points higher than between **** and ****. We can imagine that the health crisis has spurred the use of software. Growth in this sector continued in subsequent years, with sales reaching **.* billion euros in ****.

In ****, sales were distributed as follows:

Structure of software sales France, ****, in percent Source: ****

Sectoral" software publishers are dedicated to a specific business sector, while "horizontal" software publishers offer global solutions for all activities. Accounting software is therefore included in the **.**% of sector-specific software, which enables us to increase the sales figure for the market in our study by taking around **% of each of the above sales figures:

Industry-specific software sales France, ****-****, in billions of euros Source: ****

2.1 The main demand sectors

Data provided by INSEE allows us to compare the penetration rate of office automation cloud software by sector:

Office cloud software penetration rate by sector France, ****, in % of companies INSEE

The transport sector had the highest penetration rate in **** (***). Specialized activities also make heavy use of cloud computing solutions (**% penetration rate. Other sectors have penetration rates between ** and **%. The average penetration rate is **%. Demand is therefore far from saturated, and accounting software in this format is set to gain in popularity.

Associations

Businesses aren't the only organizations using digital tools and accounting software. Many associations are also managed and run like businesses, and as such need accounting, financial and performance monitoring.

Use of digital tools by associations France, ****, in Source: ****

Theuse of an accounting tool is being abandoned by more and more associations. In ****, two-thirds of associations used an accounting tool, compared with less than a third in ****. This phenomenon can be explained in part by the fact that "changes in licensing business models and changes in regulations have prompted many associative structures to revert to more basic solutions such as Excel, or for the more professional, to outsource this service".

More specifically, the **** report gave the following reasons in an ...

2.2 Standardization of Cloud Computing and SaaS

SaaS, Software as a Service, is a form of cloud-based software. It enables software to be accessed via the Internet. The software supplier owns its operation, with all data hosted on a remote server and accessible via a cloud. Data security is the responsibility of the software supplier, as are updates and maintenance. In terms of costs, the SaaS solution is more economical, hence its success, as illustrated by the growth in sales in this market:

Growth in SaaS sales by software publishers France, **** - ****, in Source: ****

A growing proportion of software publishers' sales are generated by SaaS: more than half of their revenues come from the use of SaaS.

A study by Businesscoot entitled "Le marché du Software as a Service en France" is available here for further information on the subject. Generally speaking, the underlying trend is one of growth, which inevitably favors the expansion of the software sector, and therefore of accounting software.

Technology priorities for software publishers France, ****, in Source: ****

Investment in Cloud and SaaS was the top priority for French software publishers (***) in ****. In ****, only **% of companies put this criterion in first place, demonstrating the exponential growth in cloud usage. In ****, security has risen sharply, from ...

2.3 Average spending on accounting software by company size

The amount companies spend on accounting software depends largely on their size, which in turn influences the type of need they have. For example, the larger the company, the more it may need a system covering all aspects of its accounting, potentially with customized elements. on the other hand, in most cases, a very small company's main need is for a standardized accounting management tool (***).

As a result, there are major differences in accounting software expenditure according to company size:

The vast majority of small businesses (***), while **% spend less than €**K. For medium-sized companies (***), but a new **% of companies are spending between €**K and €***K. Finally, for the largest companies, the "less than **K€" category disappears altogether, and conversely, *% of companies with over *** employees spend more than ***K€.

Source: ****

Spending by companies with fewer than ** employees France, ****, in Source: ****

Spending by companies with **-*** employees France, ****, in Source: ****

Spending by companies with more than *** employees France, ****, in Source: ****

2.4 Potential customers on the rise: companies and accounting firms

Companies

This graph shows that the number of companies created has been rising steadily, until ****, when it fell by *% compared with ****, to ***,***. Every new company is a new opportunity, because a company generates accounting flows. However, not all companies have the funds to purchase software.

Company start-ups by year France, ****, in thousands of companies Source: ****

by way of comparison, the following graph shows business start-ups (***) in France in **** by sector of activity.

Number of business start-ups by sector of activity France, ****, in thousands Source: ****

Accounting firms

Accounting firms make up one part of the demand, and are still a profitable business, as shown in the following graph:

sales growth in the accounting sector France, ****-****, in billions of euros Source: ****

This growth in sales in the accounting activities sector can be seen as a good sign for accounting software: if it also implies an increase in available resources, then these are resources that can be used in the purchase of accounting software.

More comprehensive information on the sector is available in the market study on chartered accountancy in France, available here.

3.1 Software publishing

Accounting software structure, questions to ask :

Source: ****

For whom:

Software can be of interest to different types of customer, and software offerings differ according to the customer. An accounting firm, for example, will have a very large database, since data from several customers and therefore several companies will have to be integrated into the software, so the interface must be adapted.

The purpose of accounting software is not to replace accountants, but to help them. However, the help will not be the same depending on the player. For an accounting firm, having software that optimizes data entry means more time can be devoted to the "consulting" part of the job, for example. For companies, the aim is not to replace in-house accountants with software either, as the chartered accountant remains the person legally responsible for the accounts of the company he or she works for.

Which format?

As already seen above, accounting software (***) and SaaS. Acquisition mode means that the software must be purchased and then downloaded onto the company's server. The Internet is not necessary for its use, unlike SaaS, but it is the customer's duty to host and secure the data.

What it does :

An ERP (***)[***]. Accounting is therefore ...

3.2 Production structure

We consider here the data provided by INSEE under NAF code **.**C "Édition de logiciels applicatifs", which includes software for professional or domestic use, such as office applications, project management, etc. This scope is therefore broader than that of accounting software[***].

Establishments under code **.**C France, ****- ****, in units Source: ****

Number of employees under APE code **.**C France, **** - ****, in units Source: ****

Generally speaking, the trend is upward for both the number of establishments and the number of employees.

In terms of geographical distribution, the vast majority of activity is concentrated in the Paris region. This also means that companies are on average larger in the Paris Region (***) than in other regions. [***]

3.3 Distribution and contractualization: subscriptions very popular

The following data concerns French software publishers as a whole. As specific figures for accounting software are not available, we have nevertheless deemed it useful to present the following figures:

What type of contractualization?

More and more software publishers are opting for subscription-based contracts.

Contractualization mode preferred by software publishers in the future France, ****, in Source: ****

In fact, this type of contractualization is expected to be favored by **% of software publishers. Subscriptions enable publishers to benefit from regular revenues, which partly justifies their success. This growing popularity is in line with the widespread adoption of the SaaS format.

Subscriptions are often associated with the SaaS model. This model not only provides greater visibility, but above all maximizes returns.

how often do you bill?

Average billing frequency for SaaS software subscriptions France, ****, in Source: ****

In ****, **% of French software publishers favored annual billing, far ahead of monthly (***).

For how long a commitment?

Average duration of SaaS software subscriptions France, ****, in Source: ****

Finally, publishers have succeeded in committing their customers to long-term subscriptions, with **% of publishers contracting for terms of * years or more in ****.

3.4 Major players but a market open to competition

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the main players in the accounting software market, based on their frequency of appearance on the various websites offering accounting software rankings:

SAGE Quadratus Quickbooks Cegid EBP Divalto Ciel SAP Agiris

As a reminder, in *.* we explained that the market was virtually consolidated, with major players beginning to dominate the market, although this did not prevent the emergence of new players. Here is an accounting classification of Fintech.

For information, Fintech comes from the contraction of Financial Technology, and designates small companies (***) that provide financial services through innovative solutions. Accounting software can therefore fall into this category.

Source: ****

Not all the players in this table are accounting software, such as chartered accountants, but it's still interesting to know the environment in which accounting software operates, and the various new offerings on the market. For example, one of them, Chaintrust, works with existing accounting software, as it connects to it (***), as well as to invoicing software.

Fund-raising to bring in new entrants and boost the market

More and more start-ups specializing in sub-segments of the accounting industry are appearing on the market.

Spendesk, for example, which specializes in business expense management, completed a ** million fundraising round ...

4.1 The different offerings on the accounting software market

Accounting software is a program used to keep track of the accounts of an organization or company and to record the financial and accounting operations carried out (***). [***]

The main applications of accounting software are as follows:

General accounting. Manage financial and accounting flows Manage fixed assets Edit accounting and financial documents

Accounting software offers the possibility of creating various accounting journals (***), balance sheet and income statement editing, data export...

The great advantage of accounting software is that it saves time and reduces the risk of errors. [***]

Purchase or lease?

There are different ways of making accounting software available: either by purchasing the product (***).

Sustainability of the need

One of the first criteria for choosing between purchasing or leasing software is the durability of the requirement. Indeed, SaaS software is often a better solution for one-off or short-term needs, as they generally operate on a monthly or annual subscription basis that can be easily terminated.

Type of need

Some businesses require solutions tailored to the specific accounting requirements of their sector. In such cases, companies may need software that is partly tailor-made, which is rarely offered on a rental basis. For companies operating in sectors with specific accounting standards, it is therefore ...

4.2 Varied pricing

The price of accounting software varies enormously from one company to another, based on a wide range of criteria, including the following:

Company size Type of tool required: simple accounting software or global management ERP software Scope of the tool: general accounting only, cash management, fixed asset management, etc. Customer company: number of companies to be managed, breakdown of activity (***), location of head office, etc Number of simultaneous users Formula and platform: purchase for Mac, purchase for PC, SaaS

There is some free software available, but with very limited functionality, such as JePiloteMonEntreprise, Henrri or Dolibarr. These software packages are more suited to microentrepreneurs, VSEs or self-employed workers.

Secondly, when it comes to paid-for software, it's not uncommon for a brand to offer different packages with more or less services, at different prices. Here are the prices of some solutions, by way of illustration; unfortunately,prices are so different that they are difficult to compare:

Source: ****

5.1 Mandatory accounting software

To combat VAT fraud, the use of certified accounting software was to become mandatory from January*, ****, according to the **** Finance Law. This was to enable the tax authorities to access company data reliably, securely, but also to be able to store and archive accounting data.

Nevertheless, this measure was relaxed by the government just before it came into force, notably in response to the concerns of self-employed businesses and SMEs. Here is the scope of the measures:

In the end, this obligation only applies to cash register software and systems. Accounting software is outside the scope of the obligation Certified software is that which meets the criteria of standard NF***, and is included in an established list

Source: ****

5.2 Accounting standards

Accounting standards are recording standards that define the management of a company's accounts in a standardized way. They can be set at several levels: either at French level, to facilitate exchanges between various companies in the country, or at international level. Accounting software must therefore be able to keep journals and accounts according to these different standards.

French accounting standards

French accounting standards are set out in detail in the Plan Comptable Général, which defines and determines the various accounts and provides the various disclosures.the Plan Comptable Général defines and determines the various accounts and provides the information needed to keep the accounts of a French company.

International standards

International accounting standards, known as IFRS (***), have been introduced to facilitate trade between economic players in different countries. Compliance with these rules is required in particular for European companies listed on the stock exchange.

Source: ****

5.3 Legal requirements for accounting software

Up-to-date accounting is essential for coping with tax audits. According to article ***/*bis of the French General Tax Code, updated in ****, four requirements are imposed by the government to ensure that accounting software complies:

Condition of inalterability of the company's accounting data : software must be neutral and retain each accounting data without the power to modify it. Collection operations must be visible. Securing accounting data: All accounting information must be preserved. It must be possible to restore data to the system in its original state using the software. Retention of company accounting data: The software must be able to record and close data over a given period. Archiving of all company accounting data : The software must be able to archive documents by date. Everyone must have clear access to them.

It is also essential that the accounting software system used by the company is certified. This certification attests that the software complies with legal and administrative obligations. The certificate is issued by the software publisher itself.

6.1 Segmentation

• SAP
• Sage
• Intuit
• Sopra Steria
• CEGID
• EBP
• Divalto
• Pennylane
• Axonaut
• Flowie
• Alticap
• Indy
• Sellsy
• Freebe
• Keobiz
• Mapap
• Regate
• Freshbooks
• Tiime
• Fulll
• My unisoft
• ACD Groupe
• Agiris
• Quickbooks (Intuit France)
• Teogest
• Exact
• RevisAudit Premium
• Inqom (Visma Group)
• Limpeed
• Bleez
• Memsoft
• Zephyr Groupe
• Adomis (Zephyr groupe)
• Cogilog
• Cogilog
• COGILOG
• Ma Compta.fr
• Wavesoft