Outside of big six — EY, Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, Grant Thornton and BDO — there are less than 25 Indian firms with more than 20 partners.The regulators face a dilemma because the big firms have practically become too big to fail, something their Indian rivals have pointed out for long. The whole system needs a revamp : ratings agencies, independent directors, regulators, audit firms,” said an ex-ICAI president. The government needs to lay down the order of priority for responsibility of various stakeholders. Indian regulators are still evolving,” said the ex-ICAI president.Recently, the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority studied the oligopolistic structure of the audit market and the inherent conflict of interest between the audit and non-audit businesses of the firms. It suggested mandatory joint audits with non-Big Four firms because the current structure was skewed in favour of the Big Four and restricted choice.

Source: Economic Times May 03, 2019 01:52 UTC