The cost to Britain’s blue chip companies of statutory audits has almost doubled in the past five years and jumped 18 per cent in the past year alone, according to a survey.
The rising fees, which are split between the Big Four accountancy groups, will do little to calm international debate about the risks of having so few firms responsible for verifying the accounts of all the biggest companies.
Auditors attributed the increases to the work created by regulation and changing accounting standards.
UK companies adopted international financial reporting standards in 2005 and are still getting used to the system. Many also had to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations in the US for the first time last year.
Middle-tier rivals are likely to seize on the numbers as evidence that limited competition is pushing up prices – a charge the Big Four deny.
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