The second quarter of 2016 had a slight increase in SEC-client auditor change activity from the first quarter. Marcum LLP, based in New York, held the top spot this quarter, with eleven wins and two losses, for a net increase of nine new clients. As we noted recently, Marcum also had a good quarter picking up new IPO clients.
Deloitte, BDO, RSM, and Crowe Horwath also gained clients this quarter. Notably, BDO is back to its winning ways, after breaking even last quarter.
The table below presents a comprehensive view of the gains and losses for major global and national firms. It shows how many SEC audit clients each auditor gained or lost, and also the auditor from or to which the client was won or lost.
(Click to expand the image)
In the following tables, we disaggregate the auditor changes by the size of the companies gained or lost, as represented by the companies’ filing status. The first table shows auditor changes for Large Accelerated Filers, i.e., those with a worldwide public float of more than $700 million.
The next table presents a sample of the most wins and losses for Accelerated Filers, which are companies with public float between $75 million and $700 million.
Finally, the last table presents the top four firms with most wins and losses for Smaller Reporting Companies.
Among the Smaller Reporting Companies, DCAW (CPA) Limited had the most wins and AWC (CPA) Limited had the most losses, with 27 and 19, respectively. This is because AWC (CPA) Limited merged into Dominic KF Chan & Co CPA at the beginning of the second quarter, creating DCAW (CPA) Limited.
The California-based Anton & Chia lost 23 Smaller Reporting Company clients, despite having acquired McCormack, Su & Company Inc. during the period. Reviewing the 8-Ks associated with those changes, it looks like Anton & Chia voluntarily resigned from most of them. As noted by Accounting Today, many of those dropped clients were picked up by KCCW Accountancy, which contributes to why that auditor claimed second place for most wins among the Smaller Reporting Companies this quarter.
Audit Analytics tracks audit fees, auditor changes, restatements, and a wide range of audit and regulatory disclosures, with the ability to create daily email alerts for new disclosures by industry, auditor, location, and more. In addition to these and many other databases, we also offer qualitative red flag alerts for due diligence and risk assessment. Please contact Audit Analytics for an online demonstration or to learn more about these data sets. You can call us at (508) 476-7007 or e-mail info@auditanalytics.com.