Concentration in the Belgian Audit Market: a study based on the annual accounts

Nowadays, most countries have audit markets
that are dominated by a few relatively equal-sized
international firms (the "Big Four"). Several audit
regulators around the world have expressed concern
over this (growing) market concentration by
Big Four audit firms and the adverse effects it may
have on audit quality and audit fees (e.g., European
Commission, 2010; GAO, 2008; Oxera, 2006;
United States Treasury, 2008).
In its recent Green Paper, Consultation on audit
policy - Lessons from the crisis, the European
Commission (2010, p. 15), for example, stated that
"the market appears to be too concentrated in certain
segments and deny clients sufficient choice when
deciding on their auditors".
Basically, regulators' concern is that higher levels
of concentration imply less competitive markets
(while it is widely believed by economists, antitrust
scholars, and legislators that competition is a good
thing, making consumers better off).
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview
on the level of concentration in the Belgian audit
market (for the year 2008) and to examine if and to
which extent concentration is still increasing.

Jaar van publicatie:2012

Trefwoorden:audit market concentration, Big4