Audit Market Concentration in Malaysia: A Descriptive Analysis of the Top 10 Audit Firms in Malaysia from 2009-2013

Abstract

While the global auditing services market is presently dominated by a group of four auditing firms (Big Four) namely Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the auditing profession in Malaysia offers several exceptions in the audit of public-listed companies (PLCs). In this study of the top ten auditing firms in Malaysian PLCs audit market for the period 2009 to 2013, it was found that BDO has overtaken Deloitte as the fourth largest auditing firm in Malaysia PLCs market segment, measured by audit fee income, clients’ market capitalisation and the turnover of their audit clients. Nevertheless, Deloitte remain strong in the referral audit of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) in Malaysia as globally, Deloitte has overtaken PwC as the world largest accounting firm since 2013. As such, studies comparing the global Big Four versus non-Big Four auditing firms in Malaysia has to be treated with more caution to ensure comparability of the composition of the Big Four in the global arena. Also, Pareto 80:20 rule can be used to describe the audit market concentration issue in Malaysia as the top 10 audit firms in Malaysia audit 80% of the public listed companies in Malaysia.