Stephanie Mitchel (asker) Jan 23, 2019:

Apologies ... for not coming back to this question sooner. I'm taking note of your queries and passing them on to the client, whom I'm not likely to hear back from until after delivery. For the time being, with your help, I'm going general, with: "In accordance with the standards of accounting practice, the Group has opted for the following accounting method, which consists of recognising:", etc. If I do get a reply from the client, I'll come back and share it here.

Germaine Jan 23, 2019:

Well, as far as I’m concerned, "Le Groupe [a group of affiliated companies] a retenu en accord avec la doctrine des cabinets [has chosen, in line with its accounting firms standards], le mode de comptabilisation ci-dessous [the following accounting policies]...

Je me laisse peut-être influencer par mon expérience, mais compte tenu du fait que "Le Groupe a retenu... le mode de comptabilisation" "en accord avec... les cabinets", je ne vois pas comment les cabinets ne seraient pas ses comptables - peu importe leur catégorie. Par ailleurs, "list the various items and how they are recognized in the accounts" me semble correspondre à ce que l’on retrouve d’ordinaire - ici, du moins! - dans les premières notes afférentes aux états financiers qui s’intitulent "Basis of preparation" (which includes the Statement of compliance") et "Accounting policies" (which includes Basis of consolidation (for a Group), Revenue recognition, Goodwill, Functional Currency, Taxation, etc., etc.

B D Finch Jan 23, 2019:

@Germaine Note that, as frequently happens, the Asker hasn't come back to answer a request for context. The point of my questions below was to find out whether these "cabinets" weren't accountancy firms in general, but particular ones that formed part of the (newly established?) "Groupe". If that were the case, it would hardly be surprising to find next to no ghits for "doctrine des cabinets". Obviously, the answer to my questions must inform how one would translate the Asker's term.

Germaine Jan 22, 2019:

Stephanie, On ne peut pas dire que l’expression "doctrine des cabinets" soit très courante (4 ghits). À mon humble avis, on parle ici des "accounting policies" (règles et méthodes comptables) ou "accounting standards" (normes comptables) adoptées par les cabinets. Il y a toujours les "(generally accepted) accounting principles" (GAAP), mais d’habitude, on les associe au pays (PCGR canadiens, français), pas aux cabinets.

La "doctrine comptable" (accounting litterature) existe bel et bien, mais je doute que ce soit un "bon fit" dans votre contexte.

B D Finch Jan 22, 2019:

Context? Is accountancy the "Groupe"'s field of work? Are the "cabinets" constituent parts of the "Groupe"? What (in general terms) is special about the "mode de comptabilisation"?