Audit is dominated globally by the Big Four. The narrow field of choice raises concerns about competition and the quality of audited accounts, and about possible conflict of interest between audit and consulting arms. Questions have also arisen whether auditors could have mitigated the banking crisis of 2008 by alerting investors to the riskiness of the assets held by banks.
Professor Andrew Chambers is Specialist Adviser to the inquiry.
The Committee has now finished taking evidence, and agreed its report on Tuesday 15 March. The Committee's report was published on Wednesday 30 March at 11.15am.
Auditors: Market concentration and their role - Report: Volume I
Auditors: Market concentration and their role - Evidence: Volume II
The Government's response was published on Thursday 16 June 2011
Government's Response
The Financial Reporting Council's response was published on Thursday 30 June 2011
FRC's Response
The FSA submitted a supplementary memorandum dated 2 September 2011
FSA supplementary evidence (
PDF 77 KB)
The Office of Fair Trading's announced its decision to refer the audit market to the Competition Commission on Friday 21 October 2011
OFT press release
The Chairman, Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market wrote to Norman Lamb MP, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on 8 February 2012 raising questions about the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in audit in the United Kingdom. This can be viewed using the link below.
Letter to Norman Lamb MP, 8 February 2012 ( PDF 98 KB)