The big four accounting firms earned 99.3 per cent of audit fees paid by Australia’s 200 largest listed companies last year, a proportion described as “to be expected” in any competitive market.
Although one academic said the concentration of fees and clients in the ASX 200 showed that the market was an oligopoly, a representative of professional body Chartered Accountants ANZ played down the dominance of the big four at the top end of town. Chartered Accountants ANZ, which co-funded the research with CPA Australia, is the main professional body for big four partners.
“The reality is that you need big auditing firms with the resources and competencies capable of fulfilling the auditing requirements of big businesses,” Ms Kasapidis said. Large firms BDO and Grant Thornton increased their share of audit clients in the top 201 to 500 bracket significantly during the research period.
PwC’s average fee per audit client rose by 50 per cent in three years, to more than $1.2 million, solidifying its position as the most expensive of the big four.