KPMG Tops Q1 SEC Audit Wins

Big Four firm KPMG led the pack among large and national firms in the market for Securities and Exchange Commission audit clients in the first quarter of 2013, with a net of seven new clients.

KPMG’s overall number of new clients (before client losses) was by far the strongest among large firms, at 15. (See our list of large-firm gains and losses.) The firm topped the list of new large accelerated filer clients, with a net of five, and of accelerated filers, with five new clients and a net gain of one. (See new clients by filing status.) It also led the list of new clients by amount of assets audited, and came second in the tables of new clients by market capitalization audited and by audit fees. (See new clients by market cap, assets audited and audit fees.)

Among its big gains were oil and gas services provider Weatherford International, with a market cap of $8.5 billion, commercial bank Webster Financial Corp. ($1.8 billion), and New Mexico-based energy holding company PNM Resources ($1.6 billion).

PricewaterhouseCoopers, meanwhile, came in first in new client gains by market cap audited and in engagement fees, second in new clients by assets audited, and second by net new large accelerated filer clients, with three. (Overall, though, it came out of the quarter with a net loss of three SEC clients.) Among PWC’s biggest gains were paints, coatings and surfaces manufacturer PPG Industries, with a market cap of $20.8 billion, and investment management company Investco, at $11.6 billion.

Many of the biggest reports of new engagements reflect mergers or wholesale transfer of old clients to successor firms, but a few stand out in this quarter’s results: Texas-based MaloneBailey grabbed 14 new clients in the first three months of the year, while Liggett Vogt & Webb, LL Bradford & Co., and Marcum all picked up six each. (See our list of overall engagement leaders.)

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