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UK: Regulator seeks to reduce auditing firms’ control

By  |  December 19, 2018

Britain’s “Big Four” accounting firms face a radical shake-up from proposals to reduce their hold on the market for auditing companies’ books, which would also force them to separate their audit and advisory businesses.

The plans, published on Tuesday, December 18, in two government-requested reports, mark the most ambitious attempt yet to reform the accounting industry, dominated by EY, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC, which check the accounts of 341 of the top 350 listed companies in Britain.

Politicians have criticized a “cosy” audit sector and its “timid” regulator of failing to foresee the collapse of retailer BHS and construction company Carillion.

Full Content: Financial Times

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