A method for regenerating a particulate filter in an exhaust system of a combustion engine. The method: (a) measures, every time the combustion engine is started, a parameter representative of a condition of the combustion engine and/or of the exhaust system, (b) when the measured parameter reveals that the engine and/or the exhaust system are cold, the parameter representative of the mass of accumulated soot measured before the engine was last turned off is frozen, (c) the deviation between the frozen mass parameter and the parameter representative of the mass measured at time t is continuously determined, and (d) when the deviation has been resolved by convergence, it is added to the frozen mass parameter and the resulting corrected value is used in an ongoing regeneration process.