Audit fees benchmark and market structure of listed public interest entities in the EU (2024)

Our first study provided key figures on the listed PIE audit market, revealing the EU’s lack of an exhaustive and comparable dataset on audit fees across Member States. This gap hinders the proper functioning of the PIE audit market. This year publication aims to update, complement and refine our initial findings to support informed discussions. 

The study reveals that diverging audit fee disclosure practices among Member States prevent EU-wide comparisons. Additionally, the audit reform has had a limited impact on the audit fee/revenue ratio, which has not increased for listed PIEs since 2013. There is a widening gap with the UK, where the audit fee/revenue ratio has increased during the same period. The four largest audit firms continue to dominate the listed PIE market, holding over 90% of the market share in terms of revenue. In jurisdictions like France, where listed PIEs must have two independent audit firms under joint audit, the audit fee/revenue ratio can be more competitive than in other Member States.

Discover the key takeaways from our study on audit fees and market structure in the EU.

New methodological approach (2021-2022)

• Focus on 12 EU Member States with at least 20 listed PIEs having a market capitalisation over €200m.
• German listed PIEs do not provide the same information on audit fees as listed PIEs in the 26 other Member States, so they cannot be compared.
• Emphasis on the weighted average audit fee/revenue ratio.

Audit Fee/Revenue ratios and market shares over time

• Higher audit costs in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain compared to France, Denmark, and Italy.
• France's joint audit system results in lower audit costs.
• Audit fees increased by 30%, but the audit fee/revenue ratio remained stable.
• In the 12 Member States with at least 20 listed PIEs with market capitalisation above €200m, the audit fee/revenue ratio remained unchanged at 0.048% over the past 10 years.
• Comparison with the UK shows a widening gap in the audit fee/revenue ratio for listed PIEs with market capitalisation of less than £500m/€500m.
• The auditors’market share: overall, in 2022, the Big Four hold more than 87% of the listed PIE audit fee market share in the 26 Member States other than Germany.

Persisting comparability hurdles in the PIE audit market

• Differences in PIE definitions and audit fee disclosures hinder transparency and comparability across Member States.

Download ‘Audit Fees Benchmark and Market Structure of Listed Public Interest Entities in the EU (2024)’ to find out more.

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