Can cost and financial accounting be fully re-integrated? The role of the French state in the separation of accounting systems and the failed attempt of the système croisé to re-integrate them

Abstract

This article questions whether the separation of financial and cost accounting in France is an irreversible trend. We begin by showing that the integration of financial and cost accounting was quite “natural” up until the 1940s. We then show that after that date, State-imposed standardization of financial accounting led to separation of the two types of accounting. Last, we study the efforts of one individual, Jean-Pierre Lagrange, to promote a return to an integrated accounting system in the 1980s by means of his method named the système croisé. His efforts were in vain. In our opinion, this failure was not due to technical reasons, but can be attributed to the interaction of the interests of the main actors. Among these actors, the State played a dominant role in France by standardizing financial accounting. In addition, Lagrange was unable to obtain the backing of a network of allies to spread his accounting system.