The European Commission wants firms to rotate auditors to boost their independence and avoid scandals such as Parmalat, but has yet to decide if companies should switch accounting firms or only partners.
Although rotation of auditing partners or teams is customary in some EU countries, forcing corporations to change accounting firms may threaten the dominance of the industry's big four, which tend to build long and established ties with their clients.
Industry and Commission sources said today that auditor rotation is one of the measures Brussels is due to announce in March as part of a broad shake-up of the profession.
The Commission, which drafts EU laws, backed audit rotation in March 2002 after the collapse of Enron. At the time it suggested the switch should involve only audit teams.
Ironically, Italy, home of the multibillion-euro Parmalat fraud, is the only country in the 15-nation EU to have introduced mandatory rotation of audit firms, required every nine years.
