The Haute Autorité de l'Audit is the French regulatory authority for statutory auditors, and the successor to the H3C. Its remit has expanded with the arrival of sustainability reporting: it now also regulates the professionals certifying corporate sustainability reports, a role that puts it at the centre of CSRD assurance in France. It maintains the professional registers, sets ethical and professional standards, inspects audit work, and operates a sanctions commission.
What the H2A publishes
- Normes d'exercice professionnel, the professional standards applied to French audits
- The code de déontologie and internal regulations governing audit practice
- Registers of authorised auditors, third-country auditors and sustainability auditors
- Sanctions commission decisions on professional misconduct
- Audit control programme guidance and thematic reports
- Annual reports and FAQs
Why it matters for compliance teams
The sustainability assurance mandate is the significant development. CSRD requires assurance over sustainability reporting, and in France the H2A is the authority determining who may provide it and to what standard — a question that directly affects how large French companies plan their reporting cycle.
Seqlense DOC indexes H2A standards and decisions alongside EFRAG's ESRS material and the CNCC's professional guidance, so French reporting and audit teams can see the whole assurance framework.