This study reports the results of a content analysis of the comment letters sent to the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in response to its consultation document on the 2012 revisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code, concerning the proposal for mandatory audit tendering. The results indicate a general support for the FRC's proposals with a number of key concerns related to audit quality, auditor independence and audit cost. There is also clear conflicts of interest among some stakeholder groups such as audit firms and companies on one side and institutional investors on the other. There is evidence of conflicts of interest between Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit firms. Implications for future consultations and legislation are also discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.