Goldman First to Hire a Mid-Level Firm, Mazars, for Europe Audits

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has become the first U.S. or U.K. big bank to hire a mid-sized accounting firm to be its auditor in Europe, although there is little evidence other large companies are willing to look beyond the Big Four.

Goldman said May 21 that it had hired Mazars Group, the U.K.’s eighth-largest accounting firm by revenue, to be the auditor of its European arm beginning in 2021.

PwC, Goldman’s auditor since 1922, will continue to audit the bank outside Europe.

“There are different rules between the US and EU on audit rotation,” Goldman said, explaining why it had ...