The beleaguered audit regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), is planning to ask the next government for new powers to set auditor remuneration rates

Following a formal tender process, FTSE listed global engineering company Trifast has hired BDO LLP as auditor ending a 24-year relationship with KPMG

FTSE 100 listed global mining conglomerate BHP has ended its 23-year audit relationship with KPMG, hiring fellow Big Four giant EY

Wirecard has extended the scope of a KPMG independent audit as it seeks to end speculation it has manipulated its accounts, the German digital payments specialist has reported

Big Four firms now have total domination of the FTSE 100 audit market as mid-tier presence is squeezed out of the market. Philip Smith analyses the £700m plus audit market, highlighting the risk of substantial audit fee price rises after year-one audit wins and the impact of second-cycle audit tendering on competition

Reform of the UK audit market is long overdue with the tripartite Kingman, Brydon and CMA reviews still not implemented. Katharine Bagshaw FCA asks whether a UK version of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) would work with its harsh penalties for lack of corporate oversight 

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined Deloitte audit partner Ross Howard £120,000 for misconduct in the audit of the financial statements of Serco Geografix Ltd for the year ended 31 December 2012

The Big Four firms have increased their grip on the UK audit market, reporting a 4.7% hike in total fee income to £10.95bn compared to an 8.1% drop at mid-tier audit firms

Sports Direct has appointed RSM after four weeks without an auditor following the resignation of Grant Thornton, who had audited the company since 2004

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has highlighted widespread concerns about whether auditors are sufficiently ‘dispassionate’ when assessing a company’s financial reporting, or whether client relationships are clouding their judgment and level of challenge, during evidence to MPs at the inquiry into the collapse of Thomas Cook

An overwhelming majority of the public do not trust the current audit system and nearly three quarters support the introduction of joint audit, shows a poll conducted for Mazars

MPs have severely criticised senior audit professionals from PwC and EY over their level of challenge to management’s going concern statements as part of an investigation into the collapse of Thomas Cook, as well as highlighting strong objections to the provision of non-audit services to audit clients

Senior management and board directors, and not just the auditors, need to take some of the blame for the string of corporate collapses in recent years, says audit review chief  

Guernsey-based NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited (NESF) has changed Big Four auditors after five years with a move to KPMG from PwC

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has responded to pressure from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to launch an investigation into EY’s auditing of Thomas Cook