Competition, choice and governance in the UK audit market: interview evidence

The large listed audit market is dominated by the Big 4 accounting firms; this has led to concerns about the lack of competition and choice in the audit market and the establishment by the Financial Reporting Council of the Market Participants Group. Most stakeholders agree that additional choice in the audit market would be beneficial but should this be left to market forces or should regulatory measures be adopted? This interview based study investigates: the extent of such concerns; to what extent there is a desire to improve audit choice; and the challenges and likely impact of the Market Participants Group’s 15 recommendations made in 2007. The author makes a number of recommendations for stakeholders with an interest in the audit market to consider.