Call for break-up of ‘big four’ firms

Britain’s big four accountancy firms should be broken up in order to loosen their stranglehold on the audit market, a hardhitting report argues.

Parliament’s business committee has ordered the competition watchdog – which will release its final recommendations for market reform shortly – to aim for the “full structural breakup” of KPMG, Deloitte, PWC and EY into audit and non-audit businesses.