Verified definitions — French regulatory context, 2026

The SME business glossary.
Terms, finally clear.

100 concrete definitions of the terms every French SME runs into. No jargon, worked examples with figures, updated as the rules change.

✓ 100 entries published ✓ 4 categories ✓ 5 to 7 min per entry

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🔍 what is BFR?

BFR — Working Capital Requirement

Accounting & finance · 6 min · formula + 3 levers

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The complete glossary

BFR, EBE, EDM, proforma, liasse fiscale… These terms come up in every exchange with your accountant, your banker or your customers. Each entry gets to the point: definition, worked example, frequent questions.

I Accounting & finance

Talk numbers with your accountant. (42 fiches)

A receivable is a right held by one party (the creditor) over another (the debtor) to receive a sum of money or the performance...

BFR (Working Capital Requirement) measures the amount of money a business must tie up to finance its operating cycle (inventory...

Cash flow (or cash flow statement) measures the actual money coming in and going out of a business over a period. Not to be con...

The balance sheet is a financial snapshot of the company at a specific point in time (end of the accounting period). It lists o...

Functional balance sheet

The functional balance sheet is a reorganisation of the accounting balance sheet according to the company's cycle logic (invest...

Expense reports

An expense report is a document through which an employee requests reimbursement for costs incurred on behalf of their employer...

Tax return package

The tax return package is the set of tax and accounting forms that a French company must produce each year to report its result...

EBE (Excédent Brut d'Exploitation or Gross Operating Surplus) is a key operational profitability indicator for a business. It m...

Income statement

The income statement is an accounting document that summarises a company's activity over a period (usually a financial year). I...

The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a unique, standardised identifier for a bank account internationally. Created u...

The RIB (Relevé d'Identité Bancaire) is a standardised French document that compiles all the information needed to identify a b...

Intra-Community VAT

Intra-Community VAT refers to the VAT regime applicable to the exchange of goods and services between businesses in EU member s...

Factoring is a financing solution where a business sells its customer invoices to a financial institution (the factor), which i...

Discount refers to two distinct mechanisms: trade discount (a reduction granted to a customer who pays before the due date, e.g...

VAT reverse charge

Reverse charge VAT is a mechanism that shifts the tax liability: instead of being collected by the seller, VAT is declared and ...

DSO (Days Sales Outstanding, or average customer collection period) measures the average number of days between issuing an invo...

Margin and markup

Margin is the difference between the selling price and the cost, both excluding VAT: the purchase price for a retailer, the cos...

Cost price is the sum of the costs incurred to produce a good or deliver a service: purchases or production, direct costs and a...

Bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation involves comparing the bank statement line by line with the accounting ‘Bank’ account (512) to identify and...

The general ledger is the accounting document that groups all the entries of the fiscal year, classified account by account acc...

The trial balance is a summary statement that lists all accounts used by the company, showing for each the total debits, total ...

Dailly assignment

Dailly assignment (named after the senator behind the 1981 law) lets a business assign its trade receivables to its bank using ...

CAF (Cash Flow from Operations) measures the internal resources generated by a business during an accounting period: what it ca...

Accounting depreciation records the loss in value of a fixed asset (machine, vehicle, computer, software) due to use and time: ...

Deductible VAT is the VAT paid by the business on its professional purchases, which can be subtracted from the VAT collected on...

General Chart of Accounts (PCG)

The General Chart of Accounts (PCG) is the official reference that lists and numbers all accounts usable by French businesses. ...

Turnover (revenue) is the total value of goods and services sold by a business over a given period, expressed VAT-exclusive. It...

CFE (Cotisation Foncière des Entreprises)

The CFE (Cotisation Foncière des Entreprises) is a local tax payable by any business or self-employed individual operating in F...

Equity represents the financial resources owned outright by the company (and its partners), as opposed to liabilities owed to t...

Break-even point

The break-even point is the revenue, excluding VAT, from which a business covers all its costs, fixed and variable: its profit ...

Working capital

Working capital (WC) is the surplus of long-term resources (equity and long-term liabilities) remaining after financing all fix...

The CVAE (corporate value-added contribution) is one of the two components of the Territorial Economic Contribution (CET), alon...

Leasing (or credit-bail) is a contract whereby a financial company (the lessor) buys an asset and leases it to a business (the ...

Net income is the final balance of the income statement: it represents what remains for the company after deducting all expense...

Accounting entry

An accounting entry is the recording of an economic transaction (purchase, sale, payment, etc.) in a company's accounts. It fol...

A fixed asset is a durable item intended to serve the company's business over several accounting periods (more than one year), ...

Partner current account

A partner current account refers to funds that a partner (or director) leaves or provides to their company, in addition to thei...

VAT threshold exemption

VAT threshold exemption is a scheme that exempts small businesses from declaring and charging VAT as long as their turnover rem...

Corporation tax (IS)

Corporation tax (IS) is the tax levied on profits earned by companies subject to this regime (SAS, SARL, SA, etc.). The standar...

Cash flow forecast

A cash flow forecast is a forward-looking statement that lists, month by month, all expected receipts and payments for the busi...

Financing table

The financing table is a financial statement that explains how a company funded its long-term uses during an accounting period ...

Net cash is the money actually available to the company once its operating cycle is funded. It is calculated as the difference ...

II Invoicing & quotes

Invoice without risk (or audits). (25 fiches)

Pro forma invoice

A pro forma invoice (facture proforma) is a sales document that presents a sale before it takes place, with the elements of an ...

Invoice template

An invoice records a sale or a service and requests payment for it. Between businesses in France it is mandatory and its detail...

A deposit is a partial payment made by a customer at the time of order, before full delivery of the goods or completion of the ...

A paid invoice is an invoice that explicitly states its amount has been fully settled by the customer. It serves as **proof of ...

Approved platform (PDP)

PDP, short for plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire, is the former name of the approved platform (plateforme agréée): a d...

Electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) is the obligation for VAT-registered businesses established in France to issue, transmit and...

French e-invoicing directory

The e-invoicing directory (annuaire de la facturation électronique) is the French State service that lists the businesses and p...

E-reporting is the electronic transmission to the French tax authority, through an approved platform, of data on transactions t...

Unpaid invoice reminder

An unpaid invoice reminder is how a business asks its customer to pay an invoice that has reached its due date. It starts with ...

B2B payment terms are strictly regulated by the French Commercial Code under the LME law: 30 days after receipt of goods or ser...

A credit note (or credit memo) is the accounting document that cancels or reduces an already issued invoice: billing error, goo...

Chorus Pro is the portal created by the French State agency for financial IT (AIFE) and made available to businesses free of ch...

Factur-X is a mixed electronic invoice format: a PDF/A-3 file readable by a person, which contains a structured XML data file r...

Mandatory invoice details

Mandatory invoice details are the pieces of information that French law requires to appear on every invoice issued in France (p...

A quote (devis) is the document in which a professional describes a sale or a service and sets its price before carrying it out...

T&Cs (Terms and Conditions)

T&Cs (Terms and Conditions) are the contractual foundation governing the relationship between a seller and its customers: prici...

A SEPA Mandate is the document by which a debtor authorises a creditor to collect amounts from their bank account and authorise...

A SEPA transfer (SEPA Credit Transfer, SCT) is a euro-denominated money transfer between two accounts in the SEPA zone, initiat...

SEPA Direct Debit

SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) is a creditor-initiated payment: based on a mandate signed by the customer, the creditor instructs the ...

Payment schedule

A payment schedule (échéancier de paiement) is the timetable that splits the payment of a sum into several dated instalments. I...

Bill of exchange (LCR)

A bill of exchange, also known as a draft or LCR (Lettre de Change Relevé in dematerialised form), is a negotiable instrument b...

Negotiable instrument

A negotiable instrument is a transferable document that records a term receivable and enables its payment or transfer. The two ...

Late payment penalties

Late payment penalties are interest that any business can charge a customer who pays an invoice after the due date. They apply ...

A delivery note (bon de livraison, BL) travels with goods handed over to the customer. It details what is delivered and, once s...

A credit note is an invoice issued to correct an error on a previously sent invoice: incorrect amount, VAT, quantity, or detail...

III Sales & CRM

Sell with method. (15 fiches)

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) is the annual recurring revenue of a business selling subscriptions. It is the primary KPI for a...

A purchase order (bon de commande) is the document in which a buyer confirms in writing what they order from a supplier: produc...

MEDDIC is an acronym for a B2B sales opportunity qualification methodology based on 6 criteria: Metrics, Economic buyer, Decisi...

ADV (Sales Administration) is the function that manages the customer order cycle from receipt to collection: order recording, d...

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is software that centralises all information and interactions related to a company’s p...

Conversion rate

The conversion rate measures the proportion of people who complete the desired action (purchase, form submission, booking) amon...

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is the monthly recurring revenue generated by a company’s active subscriptions. It is the bench...

Conversion funnel

The conversion funnel (or sales funnel) describes the journey a person takes from visitor to customer. It is represented as a f...

The sales pipeline is an ordered representation of ongoing sales opportunities, categorised by their progress in the sales cycl...

Upsell (or upselling) involves offering a customer a higher-end, more comprehensive or more expensive version of the product or...

Cross-selling involves offering a customer a complementary product or service alongside what they’re already buying or own. Goa...

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of a company’s ideal customer, built from real data and interviews. This “pr...

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV), also known as customer lifetime value, is the revenue (or margin) a customer generates on...

The churn rate (or attrition rate) measures the proportion of customers lost over a given period. It is a key metric for any su...

The sales cycle refers to all the steps a prospect goes through to become a customer, from initial contact to closing. Its dura...

IV Business management

Organise without burning out. (18 fiches)

A DMS (Document Management System) is a system that digitises, organises, stores, retrieves and shares a company’s documents in...

CUMP (Weighted Average Unit Cost, sometimes called PUMP or PMP) is an inventory valuation method: each stock withdrawal is valu...

Shareholders' agreement

A shareholders' agreement (or shareholder pact in PLCs/LLCs) is a confidential contract between all or some shareholders, suppl...

Business valuation

Business valuation involves estimating a company’s economic value — for a sale, fundraising, family transfer, a new partner or ...

Electronic signature

Electronic signature is a cryptographic process that demonstrates the signatory’s consent to a digital document and guarantees ...

A SASU (Société par Actions Simplifiée Unipersonnelle) is a commercial company with a single shareholder. It is the single-shar...

A SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée) is a commercial company with at least two partners (up to 100). Partners' liability i...

An EURL (Entreprise Unipersonnelle à Responsabilité Limitée) is a SARL with a single partner. It follows the same operational r...

Micro-enterprise (sole trader)

A micro-entreprise is a simplified regime for sole traders, popular with freelancers just starting out. 'Auto-entrepreneur' was...

The business plan (or business case) is a document that formalises a business project: its vision, market, business model and f...

Statement of requirements

The statement of requirements (SoR) is a document that precisely describes the needs, constraints and objectives of a project, ...

The SIREN (Système d'Identification du Répertoire des Entreprises) is a unique 9-digit identifier assigned by INSEE to each Fre...

The SIRET (Système d'Identification du Répertoire des Établissements) is a 14-digit identifier assigned by INSEE to each establ...

The Kbis extract is the official document certifying the legal existence of a commercial company registered in the Trade and Co...

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), officially EU Regulation 2016/679, is the European text that governs the process...

Share capital is the sum of contributions made by partners or shareholders to a company at the time of its formation (or a subs...

Articles of association

The articles of association are the founding document of a company: the written, signed agreement by the partners that defines ...

Non-compete clause

A non-compete clause is a provision in an employment contract that prohibits an employee, after their contract ends, from engag...

Understanding is good. Steering is better.

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