Midlands accountants Dains have welcomed the publication of a new document which looks into choice in the UK audit market.
The Financial Reporting Council recently published a discussion paper on the Big Four's high audit concentration among the UK's largest companies.
Chris Windsor at Dains said: "We all know healthy competition is a vital part of any market, and auditing is no exception.
"There are literally hundreds of highly professional qualified accountants in the UK yet large companies still turn to the biggest four. We welcome this paper which looks into the situation and could potentially result in more large companies being encouraged to use alternatives. The study concluded entry by a firm such as ours into the audit of large companies would not be economical unless current market conditions and perceptions change. We would welcome this change as it allows much greater choice.
"There is no set ruling to the size of accountancy a business must use, it should purely be a case of each individual company choosing."
The Big Four firms audit 99 of the 100 FTSE companies, 97 per cent of the FTSE 250 and 93 per cent of all listed companies other than on AIM.
Mr Windsor went on: "We are encouraged over 60 per cent of AIM companies are audited by medium sized firms."
