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UK: EU forces Commission double-take on auditors

By  |  January 19, 2014

UK regulators are slated to rethink their approach to boost competition in the accounting sector as the European Commission has proposed even harsher standards for companies to switch their auditors than previously suggested by the UK’s Competition Commission.

The Commission ruled last October that the top 350 companies would have to place their auditing out to tender at least once every decade. The UK’s auditing industry is controlled by just four top players, KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte.

But since the October ruling, the European Commission ruled last month that companies will be required to actually switch auditors at least once every decade, a policy to begin in 2016 and apply to all members of the EU.

The EU’s crackdown on an anticompetitive auditing market will require the Commission to rethink its own proposals, having previously decided not to require mandatory auditor switching.

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