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According to most reports – recent in terms of recession and over the last decade with reference to international competition – British manufacturing is no story. Messages of gloom and doom persist. But an authoritative and recently published report from Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, Made in the UK, suggests quite the reverse in terms of performance – though manufacturing management can still improve.

While concentration measures are a good indicator of market structure, the link with competitiveness is more complex than often assumed. In particular, the modern theory of industrial organisation makes no clear statement regarding the impact of concentration on competition ‐ the focus of this paper is concentration and no inferences are made about competitive aspects of the market. The extent and nature of concentration within the UK listed company audit market as at April, 2002 and, pro forma, after the collapse of Andersen is documented and analysed in detail (by firm, market segment and industry sector). The largest four firms held 90 per cent of the market (based on audit fees) in 2002, rising to 96 per cent with the demise of Andersen. A single firm, Pricewaterhouse‐Coopers, held 70 per cent or more of the share of six out of 38 industry sectors, with a share of 50 per cent up to 70 per cent in a further seven sectors. The provision of non‐audit services (NAS) by incumbent auditors is also considered. As at April 2002, the average ratio of non‐audit fees (paid to auditor) to audit fees was 208 per cent, and exceeded 300 per cent in seven sectors. It is likely, however, that disposals by firms of their management consultancy and outsource firms, combined with the impact of the Smith Report on audit committees will serve to reduce these ratios. Another finding is that audit firms with expertise in a particular sector appeared to earn significantly higher nonaudit fees from their audit clients in that sector. The paper thus provides a solid empirical basis for debate. The subsequent discussion considers the implications for companies and audit firms of the high level of concentration in the current regulatory climate, where no direct regulatory intervention is planned.

Analyses the state of the management consultancy industry in Britain, from both a supply and a demand perspective. Aims to help potential clients evaluate and select consultants; to keep academics in business‐related subjects abreast of developments in the field; and to identify growth areas into which consultants might elect to move. Outlines available consulting specialisms, identifies key players in each, and profiles a typical management consultant.

As businesses continue to automate their activities and establish electronic links with trading partners the IT security problem becomes both more important to solve and more difficult to deal with. Virtually all companies have inadequacies in their present IT security arrangement, and suffer growing losses as a result. There is much that individual companies can, and should, do to eliminate these inadequacies, but some aspects of the problem are beyond the capacity of an individual company to solve. New initiatives, such as Coopers & Lybrand′s European Security Forum, have been established to address these issues.

Suggests that the trend towards desk sharing is the result of the need to think of the office as a full‐time productive resource. Presents space occupancy survey and several concepts of space sharing. Examines cases where innovative desk sharing solutions have actually been implemented. Considers the contradictory implications of desk sharing and the future of the office in terms of new locations, new technology, new forms of organisation, increasing support space, raising productivity, and finally new forms of facilities management.

Concern has been raised over the impact of the PricewaterhouseCoopers merger on the competitiveness of the market for audit services. This paper aims to examine the market share and audit pricing of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK before and after its merger. It also seeks to examine the change in consultancy services income of PricewaterhouseCoopers since its merger.

Numerical data analysis is performed. In particular, concentration indices and audit fee model (OLS) are used.

The increase in audit services market concentration as a result of the merger has not led to an increase in audit prices. Although the merger has enabled PricewaterhouseCoopers to increase its market leadership in regions and in industrial sectors, neither industry leadership nor city leadership generated a premium in audit pricing. An analysis of non‐audit services fee income leads to the rejection of claims by critics that the main purpose of the merger is to enable PricewaterhouseCoopers to generate more non‐audit services income from their audit clients. Its non‐audit fee income has decreased since its merger.

Audit fee models used in the literature have not included the behavioural aspects of audit pricing, for example, client‐auditor relationship. In addition, due to data availability, consultancy fee income of PricewaterhouseCoopers before the merger cannot be analysed.

The research provides useful information for the accountancy profession and the regulators.

This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the ASB's voting activities for 45 SASs issued over a 12‐year period. The results support earlier studies by Kinney and others that members' respective firm characteristics are strongly associated with their voting behavior. However, while Kinney posited that structured firms investment in audit methodology resulted in more support for new standards due to lower opportunity costs to adopt a new SAS, this study identifies such firms' greater propensity to vote against SASs. This study supports Kinney's (1986) “political cost” hypothesis regarding ASB members' reluctancy to vote against an SAS. This study also supports the relationship between firm characteristics such as audit structure and ASB member voting patterns. Overall, the results suggest that the ASB provides a democratic forum for large and small firms to equally participate in the standard‐setting process. The diversified membership of the ASB appears to result in no systematic dominant influence, other than potentially by the chair position.

During the 1990s the value to an intending professional accountant of undertaking a period of liberal (general) studies was promoted internationally by a number of individuals and organisations, including the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Institute”). The Institute significantly changed its admissions policy for Chartered Accountants in 1996 and one change was to require four years of degree level study with a compulsory liberal studies component. This study surveys the perceptions of New Zealand accounting practitioners on the impact of this compulsory liberal component. The results of this study demonstrate that there is little support from accounting practitioners for IFAC’s claim that liberal education “can contribute significantly to the acquisition of professional skills”, including intellectual, personal and communication skills. In addition, the majority of respondents did not perceive any improvements in the professional skills of the staff that had qualified under the Institute’s current admissions policy. However, any perceived improvements were mainly attributed to the Institute’s admissions policy change. Notwithstanding the lack of support for the assertion that liberal education develops professional skills, there is a strong belief by respondents in the value of liberal education for intending professional accountants.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between market structure, competition and pricing in the UK accounting services market. This association is important because mergers amongst the leading firms and the collapse of Arthur Andersen have reduced the number of international accounting firms to four.

The paper examines concentration ratios (CR) and the fees charged by accounting firms. The data used encompass the period when the number of leading suppliers fell from eight to four.

FTSE100 consultancy fees increased rapidly in the 1990s. Independence concerns, corporate scandals and additional legislation contributed to a sharp increase in audit fees and a significant decrease in consultancy fees since the turn of the century. The international accounting firms responded to saturation of the FTSE100 market by targeting the small and medium‐sized client sectors as avenues for further growth. The audit market is competitive at the initial tender stage but concentration has allowed firms to significantly increase audit fees on repeat engagements.

A number of theoretical and empirical limitations are acknowledged that could further increase the statistical power of the tests.

The study should be of interest to regulatory bodies, auditors, audit clients and academics.

This paper fills a gap in the literature regarding the evolution of CRs and accounting service fees over a significant time frame.

In recent times, there has been some disquiet within certain sectors of the Singapore business community over the role of auditors in detecting corporate fraud. The cause of this concern can perhaps be attributed partly to the Barings collapse in February 1995 and the subsequent suggestions that the auditors of the Barings subsidiary in Singapore, Barings Futures Singapore Pte Ltd (BFS), may have been negligent in their audit work. More recently, in mid‐1996, a substantial locally listed company, Amcol Holdings Ltd (Amcol), was placed under judicial management amid rumours alleging possible misdeeds by senior executives and directors. The Amcol saga has, once again, focused some attention on the role of auditors and their duty to detect fraud in company accounts.