Virus Forces U.K. to Pause Plans to Split Big Four Accountants

Britain’s embattled accounting regulator said the coronavirus pandemic had forced it to pause work on plans to roll back the dominance of the Big Four audit firms.

The Financial Reporting Council said in an update on its website Thursday that it couldn’t currently move forward with plans to split the operations of the largest auditors into separate business units.

Stung by a series of high-profile corporate failures, the FRC has focused on cutting conflicts of interest at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, which together control more than 90% of U.K. audits for large companies.

The FRC has “paused demands on, ...