Tech firms look set to challenge the traditional accountancy firms’ dominance of the audit market, says new analysis from Source Global Research.
Tech firms look set to challenge the traditional accountancy firms’ dominance of the audit market, says new analysis from Source Global Research.
It is predicting that many FTSE 100 companies are looking to break down their audit into different component parts, and the tech firms are favourites to get a piece of the action when this happens.
Source found a third of executives are already splitting their audit work to some extent, while 44% said they are weighing up such options ‘right now’. The worry for accountancy firms is that nearly two-thirds of executives think tech firms would do a better job of automating their financial processes. They also think they will be able to gather data faster, and at a lower cost, than external accounting firms.
Source’s Fiona Czerniawska said: “When clients decide to split a professional service it paves the way for change in the competitive landscape, and that’s what is happening in audit at the moment.”
So who could be the competition in the future? The Accentures and IBMs of this world are in one group, and even Amazon and Google have been put in the frame.
One of the Big 4 firms seems to be doing better than the others in this area. Just over half (52%) of those surveyed felt Deloitte was the best positioned to deliver when it comes to technology. That’s way ahead of KPMG (22%)
