UK: Small auditors speak up in reforms debate

Following the Financial Reporting Council’s slamming of the UK’s Competition Commission’s proposed reforms to boost competition in the auditing market, a group of the smallest auditing firms have joined the debate. The Kreston International group, which includes 700 auditing offices throughout the globe, spoke out against the FRC’s claim that requiring auditor rotations every decade – and not every five years as the CC had originally suggested – would only preserve the structure of the so-called Big Four auditors dominating the market. Doloitte, PWC, KPMG and Ernst & Young audit 99 of FTSE-100 companies. One senior tax and audit partner at Reeves, a member of the Kreston group, said she was “disappointed” that the CC did not stick to its original proposal of requiring firms to put their audit up for tender every five years; further, the partner, Fiona Hoston Moore, said the FRC’s offer suggests regulators are “looking after the larger firms.”

Full Content: The Telegraph

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