Australian Inquiry Calls for Cuts of Big Four Partner Numbers

Australian lawmakers said Big Four accounting firms should reduce their number of partners to no more than 400 and be banned from auditing clients they do other business with.

Multidisciplinary firms should not be allowed to supply audit and non-audit or consultancy services to the same client and be forced to separate their audit services from other operations, the final report of an inquiry sparked by the PricewaterhouseCoopers tax scandal said Thursday.

The report, which includes 40 recommendations to improve accountability in the auditing and accounting industry, marks the end of ...