French watchdog raids auditing firms as part of antitrust probe

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) – France’s competition watchdog has raided auditing firms as part of an anti-trust investigation, it said on Wednesday, while La Lettre financial publication said the “Big Four” firms Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PWC were among those targeted.

Autorite de la Concurrence, as the watchdog is known, on Tuesday carried out “unannounced inspections to visit and seize documents” at several companies offering services of auditing and financial reporting certification, it said in a statement.

Deloitte said it had no comment to make, when contacted by Reuters about the matter. Officials at KPMG, EY and PWC did not immediately respond to emails requesting a comment.

The companies are suspected of anti-competitive behaviour, the watchdog said, adding it would not identify any of the companies targeted.

Such investigations do not prejudge any guilt on the part of the companies concerned, the watchdog said.

The “Big Four” dominate the business of auditing large companies’ accounts and certifying their financial reports in France and in most countries around the world.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gianluca Lo Nostro;Editing by Inti Landauro and Alison Williams)