ABSTRACT
The first French law that mentions stocktaking is the ordinance of Colbert, issued in 1673, in which article 8 rules:
•All merchants must, within the period of 6 months following the publication of this ordinance, take stock of all their movable and immovable assets and all their book debts and liabilities; the list of the inventory must be signed by them and must be re-examined and renewed every two years’.
