OFT retires to consider audit competition referral
The OFT's audit competition consultation closed today and the watchdog will now deliberate on referral to the Competition Commission
The OFT's audit competition consultation closed today and the watchdog will now deliberate on referral to the Competition Commission
THE OFFICE of Fair Trading today closed its consultation on competition in the audit market, and now has until the end of the year to decide whether the Competition Commission should take up the cause.
A spokesman said the watchdog has “a number of responses to be processed” but would not be drawn on how many had been received.
It has not been idle while waiting for stakeholders to have their say, recently publishing an econometric analysis of the audit market.
Following on from a study by consultancy Oxera, the OFT concluded there is a link between auditors with a greater market share charging higher fees, but concluded: “We cannot rule our that [this is] because they offer a higher quality product.”
While the body has until the end of the year to make its decision, a spokesman said it is aiming to make it “relatively quickly”.
If the audit market is referred to the Competition Commission it could result in stringent measures to whittle down the alleged dominance of the Big Four including, at their most extreme, forced divestment of assets.
More about:
The numbers you crunch tell a story. Your expertis...
13yEmbracing user-friendly AP systems can turn the tide, streamlining workflows, enhancing compliance, and opening doors to early payment discounts. Read...
View articleOrganisations can enhance their financial operations' efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness by adopting platforms that offer them self-service cust...
View articleIn a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...
View resourceDiscover how AP dashboards can transform your business by enhancing efficiency and accuracy in tracking key metrics, as revealed by the latest insight...
View articleFines, regulatory oversight and greater investigations are sparking worries that sector control by giants will continue Read More...
View articleMinisters had committed to overhauling the audit and corporate governance systems in response to scandals at companies like retailer BHS in 2016 and P...
View articleThe FRC has overseen a major uptick in audit enforcement activity recently, with the regulator issuing fines of £33.3m in 2022, a 77% increase from th...
View articleThe investigation comes six months after Deloitte were hit with a £1.25m fine Read More...
View articleAfter years of deliberations and millions of dollars spent, EY has officially pulled the plug on its greatly anticipated break-up plan Read More...
View articleThe Big Four firm was found guilty of breaches in relation to cash and the audit of supplier rebates Read More...
View articleThe FRC intervention to prevent cheating in the UK follows huge fines issued to firms in the US, Australia, and Canada Read More...
View articleIndustry observers believe splitting audit and consulting operations could reduce risk of reputational damage Read More...
View article