The ‘Big Four’ accounting firms — KPMG, Deliotte, EY and PwC — have faced significant criticism of late. A raft of high-profile scandals, such as their role in the collapses of Carillion and BHS, have called into question the quality of their work as auditors and consultants, with some going so far as to declare a crisis in the audit market.

Working for a management consultancy which hires almost exclusively from the Big Four, I also regularly ‘purchase’ services from these firms, and have witnessed first-hand the challenges that come from having such limited competition in the market.