Partner Article

Audit monopoly to be prised open?

The Competition Commission is turning its attention to the Big Four auditors and the reported “closed-shop” grip they exercise on FTSE companies.

According to a Mark Leftly report in the Independent, 95% of FTSE 350 company accounts are looked after by either PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG or Deloitte.

As the Commission is poised to release the findings of its investigation into the monopoly, what changes could realistically come about - and how might they benefit small and medium sized accountancy firms?

It’s been touted that some kind of rotation of auditors may become compulsory, although the detail of this will surely need to be inclusive of smaller firms.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .