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Are the 'Big Six' 'big' in Belgium?

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  • Veronique Weets
  • Marc Jegers

Abstract

Studies in the United States, Europe and Australia have shown that the market for audit services is highly concentrated and largely dominated by the same 'Big Six' international audit firms. This paper measures the degree of concentration in the Belgian audit market through an empirical study of the number of professionally qualified auditors employed by each audit firm and some characteristics of their clients. Our calculations show that the concentration ratios, however measured, are low when compared with other countries, possibly due to the low value attached to the certification of financial statements by a professionally qualified auditor. This lack of importance can be explained by characteristics of the Belgian environment (e.g. a relatively passive capital market, dominated by a few large holding companies) which may induce companies to chose cheaper (domestic) audit firms. We also calculate Spearman rank correlations between the rankings of the audit firms based upon the different audit firm revenue proxies. All the correlations show it is of no importance which measure is used to rank audit firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Veronique Weets & Marc Jegers, 1997. "Are the 'Big Six' 'big' in Belgium?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(4), pages 773-789.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:6:y:1997:i:4:p:773-789
    DOI: 10.1080/09638189700000017
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    Cited by:

    1. Ignace de Beedle & Nathalie Gonthier-Besacier & Alain Mikol, 2003. "Le développement des grands cabinets anglo-saxons d'audit en France," Post-Print halshs-00582758, HAL.
    2. Averhals, Liesbeth & Van Caneghem, Tom & Willekens, Marleen, 2020. "Mandatory audit fee disclosure and price competition in the private client segment of the Belgian audit market," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    3. S. Verbruggen & J. Christiaens & A. Reheul & T. Van Caneghem, 2011. "Audit pricing in a reformed nonprofit market," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/764, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    4. Willekens, Marleen & Achmadi, Christina, 2003. "Pricing and supplier concentration in the private client segment of the audit market: Market power or competition?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 431-455.
    5. Vander Bauwhede, Heidi & Willekens, Marleen & Gaeremynck, Ann, 2003. "Audit firm size, public ownership, and firms' discretionary accruals management," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-22.
    6. I. De Beelde & N. Gonthier-Besacier & A. Mikol, 2006. "The Introduction Of The Anglo-American Audit Firms In France," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/392, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

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