News of a claim by the creditors of New Century Financial of 'at least $1 billion' against KPMG was lost deep in the business pages of 'The Times' today - news that Waitrose is to open two stores at a couple of motorway service areas was deemed to be more important ...
Valid or not, claims like this are going to come with increasing frequency over the coming months. Perhaps it will be their frequency which will make them less newsworthy. But if just one or two of them stick, the impact on the entire accounting profession will be huge. Possibly catastrophic.
We need a radical shake-up of the profession, with more competition and a stronger mid tier. At MSI Global Alliance (www.msiglobal.org), we are seeing growing evidence that there is a gradual shift, with some smaller clients of the Big 4 becoming more critical buyers, considering their options and, on occasions, switching to MSI member firms or other mid-tier alternatives.
Long may this trend continue. It may be too little, too late, but if it continues, it may at least create more options for the powers that be if one of the Big 4 does ultimately disappear.
James Mendelssohn (jmendelssohn@msiglobal.org)
www.msiglobal.org
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