PwC increases lead despite tough market in FTSE 100

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) remains king of the hill in the audit industry according to market researchers which found the firm gained three lucrative FTSE 100 clients during the downturn.

However, KPMG retains the largest number of overall clients according to the research with 381 businesses on its books – 44 clients more than its nearest rival, PwC.

But from afar, as the dust settles following the financial crisis, the pecking order amongst the top end auditors remains largely unchanged, according to financer researchers Hemscott.

Within the FTSE 100, PwC has 40 clients, KPMG 25, Deloitte 21 and Ernst & Young 15. It's been a tough year for the audit industry, Hemscott reports, with all frontrunners experiencing client losses.

Deloitte lost two clients and fell further behind rival KPMG, which made a single-client gain to take the firm’s tally to 24.

Grant Thorton retain the number one auditor of companies on the Alternative Investment market despite losing eight contracts, taking their total number of clients to 197.