Watchdog signals move to curb power of top firms

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which is the accountancy watchdog, could be asked to try to foster competition in the audit market. The Competition Commission signalled this yesterday in its initial findings of a market review earlier this year.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young run the numbers of more than 95 per cent of the FTSE 350.