Audit competition probe is ‘long overdue’

A Competition Commission probe into the dominance of the Big Four in the
audit market is ‘long overdue’ according to Accountancy Age readers.

More than 51% believed a review was ‘long overdue’, while only 4% thought no
change was necessary.

A minority thought that the efforts of the Financial Reporting Council and
other regulators to keep the market competitive were up to standard.

BDO’s Jeremy Newman sparked a row earlier this year when he related a story
that he thought possibly showed ‘unfair competition’ on a corporate finance
contract.

Of those polled, 28% said that the audit market was not anti-competitive,
while 16% believe that the independent public body which conducts inquiries into
mergers, markets and the regulation of the major regulated industries, should
examine the market, but not intervene.

The Big Four have pulled away from the mid-tier recently, according to the
latest Accountancy Age Top 50 results.