The Nature of Competition in the Audit Market. An Evaluation of the Literature

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Emiliano Ruiz Barbadillo
Universidade de Cádiz
Spain
Paula Rodríguez Castro
Universidade de Cádiz
Spain
Vol 22 No 1 (2013), Thematic Block The external audit: reflections to improve this activity
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15304/rge.22.1.1282
Submitted: 14-06-2013 Accepted: 14-06-2013
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Abstract

The high level of audit market concentration has increased over time due to the successive mergers that they have taken place between the large audit firms. This is generating a lot of interest and concern from regulators, academics and market participants. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review a wide range of studies that have attempted to analyze the nature of competition in the audit market, in order to conclude whether the audit market operates under conditions of perfect efficiency, or else a certain degree of imperfection which enables companies engaged in certain market power. Finally, we conclude with some reflections on the Spanish audit market, and in particular, even though there are several studies that have analyzed the concentration that exists in the market, none of them entered directly to analyze to what extent the high concentration level can be seen in Spain in the segment of large companies is allowing multinational firms to obtain monopoly rents.

Keywords:

Audit, Concentration, Market power, Collusion
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