Die Anbieterkonzentration auf dem deutschen Prüfungsmarkt – Eine empirische Untersuchung der Jahre 2010-2013

The market structure and the high concentration of the audit market was one element addressed by the European Union by its new regulation on specific requirements regarding statutory audits of public-interest-entities. This paper examines the audit market concentration for companies listed in the Prime Standard during the years 2010 until 2013. In addition to the total market, it also focuses on the various DAX indices. The results show that the market is highly concentrated. However, neither a significant tendency towards a higher concentration nor to a lower concentration can be observed in comparison to prior years. Measured in terms of total fees KPMG (44.48%) is market leader, followed by PwC (35.21%), Ernst & Young (14.2%) and Deloitte & Touche (3.26%). Only 2.85% of the total fees is attributable to NonBig4 audit firms. However, for companies included in the indices for small, technological and in particularly family firms, the market is less concentrated.