United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2003-07-30 monographic deposited born digital 147 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-864 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864 P0b002ee180382703 f:d03864 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864 GAO-03-864 Accounting standards Corporate audits Corporate mergers Auditing standards Competition Other Written Product A07817 The audit market for large public companies is an oligopoly, with the largest firms auditing the vast majority of public companies and smaller firms facing significant barriers to entry into the market. Mergers among the largest firms in the 1980s and 1990s and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen in 2002 significantly increased concentration among the largest firms, known as the "Big 4." These four firms currently audit over 78 percent of all U.S. public companies and 99 percent of all public company sales. This consolidation and the resulting concentration have raised a number of concerns. To address them, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 mandated that GAO study (1) the factors contributing to the mergers; (2) the implications of consolidation on competition and client choice, audit fees, audit quality, and auditor independence; (3) the impact of consolidation on capital formation and securities markets; and (4) barriers to entry faced by smaller accounting firms in competing with the largest firms for large public company audits. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864.pdf GAO-03-864 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-864 Other Written Product GAO-03-864; Public Accounting Firms: Mandated Study on Consolidation and Competition; Accounting standards Corporate audits Corporate mergers Auditing standards Competition Public Law 105-353 Public Law 107-204 Title 17 Part 210and 240 17 CFR Part 210and 240