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The paper concerns relationships between the history of French accounting standardisation and contemporary French economic and social history. Four periods are singled out. The first, 1946-1957, sees the emergence of the French approach to accounting standardisation. The second, 1958-1973, is marked by the strengthening of this approach for state purposes of tax control and administration. The third 1974-1983, represents the apogee of the French approach, domestically and at a pan-European level. The fourth, 1984 to the present, sees international accounting standardisation as a source of tension and pressure for adaptation of the French approach. It is shown that each of these periods corresponds to a certain configuration of relationships between the state, accounting profession and enterprise sector. The present analysis provides the basis for interpreting the 1996-1998 reform to French institutional arrangements responsible for accounting standardisation.