PwC has said that there is sufficient competition in accounting and consulting in response to an inquiry in Britain over the state of the industry in the UK and Europe.

The British Competition Commission, which has been investigating the lack of competition in the auditing sector since October 2011, is conducting a public inquiry over whether the firms operate in collusion or if there are a sufficient number of players in the industry.

In response to the probe, PwC defended itself to the commission by insisting that each of the Big4 firms “has its own commercial strategy” and that there is sufficient competition in the industry in its current form.

The company also insisted that each auditing firm can audit any of the largest companies within the current auditing network, which demonstrates the level of competition in the field.

The probe is a response to a request from the UK’s Office of Fair Trading, which raised concerns over the competitiveness of the audit services market. The Commission is particularly concerned about the competitiveness of audits, as it is intended to outsource “a large number” of its audits to new accountacy firms by the end of October 2012. The move, as well as the inquiry itself, is part of an efford amongst English officials to move “away from centralised procurement of local public audit in England,” according to Martin Evans, Managing Director of Audit Policy for the Office of Fair Trading.

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