Number of audit firms continues to fall

The number of audit firms registered with ICAEW has fallen below 5,000 according to figures supplied by the institute.

Numbers have declined steadily since 2002 since the audit exemption threshold increased from £350,000 in 2000 to £5.6m in 2004.

According to the institute, there were 4,990 audit firms registered at the end of April 2006. In 2002 this figure was as high as 6,500.

There were similar declines at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland – down from 453 to 374, and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants where they fell from 3,112 to 2,880.