A recent Accountancy Age survey of 12 audit services has found that counter to what some might expect, the smaller firms topped the class. Mazars placed first, with Horwarth Clark Whitehill second, and Grant Thornton in third, in a survey that asked clients to assess the firms on five measures including Accessibility & Communication, Technical Skills, and Transparent & Fair Billing.
Of the 'big four', PwC were the highest ranked and managed 5th place, KPMG and Deloitte placed 9th and 10th respectively, whilst Ernst & Young came rock bottom in all 5 measures. According to Accountancy Age, "E&Y staff were described as “pretty dire”, short on technical knowledge, confidence and even decent written English. Negative comments outnumbered the positive two to one".
You can view the full results of the survey and the methodology on the Accountancy Age website.