The Interdepartmental Commission for Financial Difficulties (CCSF — Commission des chefs de services financiers) is a French government body that grants payment deferrals on fiscal and social debts (VAT, URSSAF contributions, corporate tax) to companies in financial difficulty, upstream of formal insolvency proceedings. Payment plans of 12 to 24 months can be granted, providing breathing room for companies to stabilise their cash position without entering judicial rescue. In financial due diligence, the existence of a CCSF plan signals past or current cash stress and requires careful review of plan execution and remaining obligations.

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Example: due diligence on a French SME valued at CHF 8.0 million reveals a CCSF plan granting an 18-month moratorium on CHF 680,000 of URSSAF arrears. The buyer verifies that the plan is being executed on schedule and that all instalments are current. A breach of the plan would trigger immediate payability of the deferred amounts — a contingent liability included in the net debt bridge and covered by a specific warranty provision in the SPA.

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Hectelion identifies and analyses CCSF plans as cash stress indicators in every financial due diligence on French acquisition targets.