Big Four oppose French audit restrictions
The Big Four are battling against French proposals that threaten their lucrative non-audit contracts in France, which would force them to restrict their work with audit clients to reviewing accounts.
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Opposition to the French government’s proposals is being led by KPMG, who claims the planned legislation will undermine efforts to create a single European business services market.
KPMG also believes the French law is partly driven by the desire to restrict competition from the Big Four and secure more business to the country’s smaller firms, the Financial Times reported.
Neil Lerner, KMPG’s UK head of risk management said: ‘The French proposals are anti-competitive as they will further restrict the choice available to large and global companies operating in France to those that do not have any international divisions or associated firms undertaking any audit work for that company anywhere in the world.’
The proposals, set to come into force next year, come following concerns about auditor independence sparked off by the accounting scandals in the US earlier this year.