The "Big Four" accountancy firms have been told to brace themselves for a full investigation by the Competition Commission in a decision that is expected today. The Office of Fair trading has warned the auditors – PriceWaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte – that it is planning to announce its decision on whether to refer them to the monopoly authorities. Sources said the firms were expecting a full referral, their first ever.
In May the OFT "provisionally" declared that the UK auditing profession suffers obstacles to competition that merit a referral. However, the companies may yet avoid an investigation on the grounds that the Competition Commission is ill-equipped to solve the problem.
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