Competition in Malaysian Audit Industry: What the Market is Telling Us?

Abstract

The dominance of only a few audit firms in the market is of concern due to the possibility of market abuse and subsequently poor quality of audit work. While many studies of market structure have focused mainly on developed and efficient capital markets, fewer have studied the issue in emerging markets such as Malaysia. This paper highlights the structure of Malaysian audit market and assesses the level of market competition. The results suggest that the Malaysian audit market is of oligopoly type, with the top 10 audit firms dominating more than 91 percent of the market. Interestingly, there is also evidence that one of the Big Four is losing its grip in the market and one of the non-Big Four players is eyeing a position in the top four. This indicates the possibility that the barrier to entry has begun to collapse, as smaller audit firms enjoy better opportunities to enter the market.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1p306