'Big Four' accountants too dominant, says regulator

The regulator said PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, which between them act as auditors of 90% of the UK's stock-market listed blue chip companies, were also guilty of satisfying management and becoming less sceptical the longer their relationships with companies last. It follows the launch of an inquiry by the Competition Commission into the audit market for the country's top 350 listed firms. That project was partly prompted by a House of Lords investigation which found that listed companies, which must have their annual reports signed off by an auditor, use the...