Résumé en anglais

This article puts forward an interpretation of the reform of the French accounting standard-setter initiated by Decree no. 20076629 of 27 April 2007 relating to the national accounting standards board, the Conseil National de la Comptabilité (CNC). This reform, if it goes to term, will give birth to a French accounting standards authority, the Autorité des Normes Comptables (ANC). The proposed interpretation fits within a neo-institutionalist framework. In particular, it uses the notions of path dependency and institutional mimetism. The new CNC is first put into context as an institution in relation to its predecessors. It is then compared with two institutions, the architecture of which may have inspired its conception, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). It would appear that the new CNC clearly departs from the historical path traced by French accounting regulation and tends to mimic French autorités administratives indépendantes (independent administrative authorities) of the AMF type. However, such ‘authorities’ are strongly inspired by the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). So paradoxically, the model of the new French Accounting Standards Authority would be a SEC rather than an FASB.