The main concerns in the accountancy industry in 2003 and 2004 are not related to their market but to Government and other external factors.

Accountancy services are broken down into four areas: management consultancy; audit and accounting (often called assurance or business assurance); taxation and legal services; and corporate finance and business recovery. The accountancy market continues to grow, although this growth slowed in 2002. In 2002, the total fee income from accountancy and related services was 14.36bn according to our estimates, which represents an increase of 7.5% on 2001. For the rest of 2003 and into 2004, the main concerns in the accountancy industry are not related to their market but to Government and other external factors.

(PRWEB) September 20, 2003 --Research and Markets have announced the addition of the "Accountancy Market Report 2003" report to their offering.

This report looks at the market for accountancy services in the UK. Accountancy services are broken down into four areas: management consultancy; audit and accounting (often called assurance or business assurance); taxation and legal services; and corporate finance and business recovery.

The accountancy market continues to grow, although this growth slowed in 2002. In 2002, the total fee income from accountancy and related services was 14.36bn according to our estimates, which represents an increase of 7.5% on 2001. This figure includes 6.94bn from management consultancy. The smallest sector has been corporate finance and business recovery with business recovery being the driver of this sector.

The accountancy industry is dominated by what is known as the `Big Four' firms, which indicates how concentrated the industry has become - around 12 years ago the industry was dominated by what were then known as the `Big Eight'. The `Big Five' became the `Big Four' accountancy firms in September 2002, when the UK practice of the worldwide accountancy firm, Andersen was bought by Deloitte & Touche.

The 'Big Four' audit all the top 100 UK public companies and they have a large share of the accountancy market. Now that three of the `Big Four' have sold off their consultancy businesses, the 'Big Four' as a group have only a small presence in the consultancy market. However, they have the lion's share of the market in auditing, tax, corporate finance and business recovery.

Nevertheless, the small- to medium-sized accountancy firms appear to be maintaining their ground and may indeed be increasing their share, albeit marginally.

For the rest of 2003 and into 2004, the main concerns in the accountancy industry are not related to their market but to Government and other external factors. Greater regulation is on the agenda in Europe and in the US. This is not palatable to the accountancy profession and indeed some of it may be unnecessary. The profession not unnaturally is arguing against excessive regulation. Auditor liability is also a major concern. A recent court case in Scotland has broadened auditors' responsibilities. More litigation is another concern as well as the cost of insurance, which had to increase to take into account the rising number of court actions involving accountancy firms. There is the likelihood that the Government will raise the threshold for compulsory audits for companies from a turnover of 1m to 4.8m. This will remove the necessity for thousands of firms to have an audit, although many choose to continue to have one. However, the issue is how many firms will retain their annual audit.

We forecast that the accountancy market will grow by 33.8% between 2003 and 2007 to stand at 20.27bn. Management consultancy will represent 47.9% of this market.

For a complete index of this report click on http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/35281

REPORT DATA SUMMARY:
Accountancy Market Report 2003
Category: Accounting
URL: www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/35281

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