US, English, Canadian, Irish Companies with offices in Paris

[davidcallanan]

Hello all,

I will hopefully move to France in July. No Visa issues as I'm Irish. I work in Finance & want to target finance jobs in a company where english is the working language.

I can speak fairly good french but prefer to have one less headache when moving to a new country. My written french is probably where I need to focus on a bit.

Can anybody help out with names of companies with operations in Paris area where English is the operating language. I hope to find work in finance with a Co who report back their accounts to a parent Co in US, Canada, UK or Ireland.

Any help much appreciated.
Dave

[Bevdeforges]

Lots of US, Canadian, British and Irish companies have offices in and around Paris, but many of those don't necessarily have their finance and accounting branches in the same area. I think it would be tricky to find a list of companies that use English as the operating language, as that is always a touchy point here in France. It might be more practical to check the websites of some of the large multi-nationals you'd be interested in working for - and then see where they have their French sites.

Also, any operating entity in France is required to keep French accounts, regardless of where their HQ is located. You'll find many job postings for finance jobs require familiarity with both French and "anglo-saxon" accounting. Truth be told, there isn't all that much difference - but you do need to know a bit about the French chart of accounts and French presentation for the main financial documents. (A few hours with some books on the subject will get you up to speed - but finding information in English can be tricky.)

Try checking with the British Chamber of Commerce in France, the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris and whatever similar organization the Irish have in France. Though these groups tend to focus on import-export, they are often sponsored by larger multi-national companies.
Cheers,
Bev