As the FTSE 100 market shares of the Big Four audit firms reach a form of equilibrium following several years of frenetic tendering activity, challenger mid-tier firms have not been able to break into the big league. But with a number of UK plc’s largest companies now beginning to start their second cycle of competitive tendering, this picture could begin to change.

According to Accountancy Daily’s FTSE 100 Auditors Survey 2019, the total value of audits across the FTSE 100 now stands at £705m, up 5.6% on the previous year’s recorded audit fees of £667m.

Once non-audit service fees are included, together with the grey area of ‘audit-related’ fees, the survey shows that the Big Four firms of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC took £910m in fees from their FTSE 100 audit clients. This was up just 1.2% year on year.

Pw