Crowe Clark Whitehill had 8.2% of the market, earning £5.7m in fee income from 240 clients with a combined income of £4.8m. Second place went to PwC, recording £4.64m of fees, followed by BDO (£4.49m), and RSM (£4.2m). PwC had fewer clients than the top firm (125), but audited a larger total charity income, with responsibility for £5.6m.

The firms with the most clients are Haysmacintyre with 263 clients followed by Crowe Clark Whitehill with 240 and RSM with 236.

Overall, the figures show there has been a 4.4% growth in audit fees, the highest level of growth over a five-year period. However, for the majority fees have remained the same or even decreased. Only 16% of the top 5,000 charities experienced an increase in audit fees, 46% saw no change, and 36% saw a decrease.

Charity Financial’s analysis points out that 27% of charities have never changed auditor over the last decade.  Of the 328 charities which did change auditor in the latest year, the largest to do so was the Wellcome Trust, which paid a fee of £300,000 to Deloitte when it previously paid £200,000 to PwC.

There were 32 charities that had an income greater than £80m and audit fees of more than £100,000, up from 28 reported last year. Conversely, there were 722 charities with income less than £1m and audit fees between £1,000 and £5,000.

Over half of the top 5,000 have fees less than £10,000, and only 386 have fees more than £30k. The most expensive audit overall was for Save the Children International, which paid £438,000 to KPMG, up from £361,000 the previous year.

The report shows that Haysmacintyre has once again made the most client gains, as it did the previous year, adding 30 new clients worth audit fees of £449,000 in 2017.

Pesh Framjee, head of non profits at Crowe Clark Whitehill, said: ‘Charities are facing challenging times. Cost escalations, funding pressures, public trust, political uncertainty, and increased demand all impact on what charities do. Auditors who know the sector and understand the challenges can add value that goes beyond a signature on an audit report.

‘We are delighted to have retained our position as the leading charity auditor for the ninth consecutive year in what is an increasingly competitive market.’

The Charity Audit Spotlight is an annual report compiled by Charity Financials, which records the names of all advisers employed to provide services to the top 5,000 charities. To be included in the top 5,000 charities, an organisation must have either an annual income that is greater than £1.468m, annual expenditure greater than £1.482m, or total funds/net assets greater than £3.429m. 

The Charity Financials Audit League table is here.