The largest auditing firms continued to boost their share of the public company audit market in 2020, according to a new report, but the gains were distributed differently than in the previous year.
The “Who Audits Public Companies — 2021 Edition” report, from Audit Analytics, found that the share of public companies audited by the 10 leading firms rose to 66.9% in 2020, up from 65.7% in 2019. For 2020, that represented 4,030 companies out of a total of 6,030.
While the top 10 auditing firms had also grown their share in 2019, the extra audits then had largely gone to the Big Four, but in 2020, it was the other members of the top cohort that added audits.
The overall universe of public companies grew only a little in 2020, increasing by 0.8% from the 5,985 in 2019.
For more details, see the charts below; a full breakdown by filing type will be part of Audit Analytics’ full report, which will be available
Data provided by Audit Analytics, a premium online intelligence service delivering audit, regulatory and disclosure analysis. Reach them at (508) 476-7007,
