The ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms’ control of the audit market is a cause for concern, according to a top member of BDO Stoy Hayward .
Dermot Mathias, policy board chairman of the UK's sixth largest professional services firm, said it was "unhealthy" that four big players were auditing Europe's largest companies.
He highlighted the conflicts of interest that can often occur due to the range of professional services offered by Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and Ernst and Young, and said that the companies control of the audit market meant that potential clients would only have one or two firms to choose from when conflicts arose.
He admitted it was in his interest to question the dominance of the Big Four, but there were "others in the [audit] market" who are also concerned by this.
Mathias also said he supported the ideas of having regulators choose the auditors for large companies and putting limiting the amount of audits the Big Four can handle.
His comments come just weeks after Jim Quigley, global CEO of Deloitte, said that he did not expect the Big Four’s dominance in the international accounting and audit sectors to be challenged for a "long period of time".
BDO Chief Criticises Big Fours Control Of Audit Sector
Tue, 19 Oct 2010
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