Auditor concentration in the oil and gas industry

Mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies over the past 2 decades have significantly altered the oil and gas industry. At the same time, increased specialization in the accounting profession has resulted in fewer firms providing services to any one particular industry. The concentration and competitive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPetroleum accounting and financial management journal Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 52
Main Authors Scheiner, James H, Wheatley, Clark M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Denton University of North Texas 01.04.1998
Subjects
Accounting firms
Audit fees
Auditors
Audits
Big Six accounting firms
Competition
Gas industry
Market shares
Petroleum industry
Specialization
Statistical analysis
Statistical data
Stock exchanges
Studies
United States > US
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Summary:Mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies over the past 2 decades have significantly altered the oil and gas industry. At the same time, increased specialization in the accounting profession has resulted in fewer firms providing services to any one particular industry. The concentration and competitiveness of the audit firms that service the oil and gas industry are examined. The results may be taken to indicate that competition for clients in the oil and gas industry, while decreasing overall, has increased among Big Six accounting firms. As a consequence, the industry should benefit in the form of lower audit fees and more efficient tax and consulting services. Further, the study indicates that auditor concentration research which relies solely upon metrics such as the "four-firm concentration ratio" may provide biased or misleading results.
ISSN:1554-2904