It wasn’t a stellar fourth quarter of 2019 for the Big 4 in terms of winning new public company audit clients, according to Accounting Today’s most recent report on the newest data crunched by Audit Analytics.
Deloitte and EY brought on four and three new SEC-registered audit clients, respectively, in Q4, but Deloitte also lost four clients and EY lost three, so it was a wash for both firms. After losing four audit engagements in the third quarter of last year, PwC lost another three in Q4 while only gaining one, for a net of -2. KPMG had a similar Q4 to PwC—gained one new client, lost three, for a net of -2.
BDO, which was the biggest loser of Q3 with eight SEC audit clients lost and a net of -4, saw five more audit clients walk out the door in Q4, but Bravo Delta Oscar did manage to win five new clients.
But the biggest loser in Q4 among the top 12 firms in Audit Analytics’ analysis was Marcum, which lost double-digit SEC audit clients for the first time since the first quarter of last year. In Q4, Marcum (including Marcum Bernstein Pinchuk) lost 10 clients and gained five, for a net of -5. What a difference a quarter makes—Marcum led in SEC audit client wins in Q3 with 12.
Marcum was too busy bragging about all the IPOs it audited last year to even notice that it was hemorrhaging audit clients, probably.
Here’s a chart from Audit Analytics showing all the client gains and losses in Q4:
BF Borgers, Wipfli lead in new audit clients in Q4 [Accounting Today]
Auditor Changes Roundup: Q4 [Audit Analytics]
Related articles:
Which Audit Firm Got Fired the Most In Q3?
Which Firm Had the Most IPO Audit Clients In Q4 2019?
