It is entirely possible that the audit tender activity taking place in the highest echelons of the listed corporate world could drive up the cost of external audits. The days when audit was seen as a loss leader for more lucrative consultancy work are long gone – now the Big Four are expecting prices to rise as they seek to recoup the upfront costs of bidding for an audit and then embedding their teams with clients.

Currently a number of FTSE 100 company audits are out to tender, including Standard Chartered, Marks & Spencer and Unilever, with more to come in 2014. At the same time, a number of audit committees report that they will make a recommendation about whether to retender their audit during the course of this financial year.