Big Four Firms Test Audit Safeguards as Consultancy Booms

The Big Four accounting firms increasingly rely on consulting and advising to drive their profits and boost partner paychecks, but it comes at a cost.

That resurgence of consulting—now the biggest slice of Big Four revenue—comes packaged with potential conflicts of interest that could threaten what was once their core business: the audit.

US regulators, alarmed that the outsized influence of that advisory work could undermine the job of auditors, are closely monitoring firms’ business deals. Ernst & Young has been exploring a possible split of its operations in part to fend off such ethics crackdowns, including a record $100 ...