For the second quarter in a row, Lakewood, Colorado-based BF Borgers has topped the list of auditors bringing on new Securities and Exchange Commission clients, while Big Four firm Ernst & Young led the way among large firms for the first three months of the year.
In the first quarter of 2020, BF Borgers brought on 10 new clients (netting nine), after bringing on six new clients (and netting five) in the fourth quarter of 2019. Once again, its new clients came from a wide range of previous auditing firms. (See “
EY, meanwhile, onboarded a whopping 15 new clients — the most of any firm, large or small — but netted only five, thanks to attrition. That was still the biggest haul among the ranks of the largest auditors. (See “
Clients by filing status, and more
Not surprisingly, EY led in the league tables for new large accelerated filers and accelerated filers, while BF Borgers brought on the most smaller reporting companies. (See “
Interestingly, Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers topped the Q1 charts in terms of new market capitalization audited and new assets audited. The market cap lead was largely due to three clients, with $19.6 billion from electronic design automation software and engineering services company Cadence Design Systems, $16.5 billion from consumer credit reporting company TransUnion, and $12.4 billion from molecular diagnostics company Exact Sciences Corp. The new assets audited, though, are almost entirely thanks to a single client: Advanced Series Trust, an investment vehicle for life insurance companies, with $109.3 billion in assets. (See "
PwC came second in terms of audit fees, where EY topped the list. A lot of clients contributed to that, but the single biggest by far was AMC Entertainment Holdings, with $10.6 million in fees, or just over a third of EY’s total of $29.8 million.
Data for the quarterly rankings are provided by Audit Analytics, a premium online intelligence service delivering audit, regulatory and disclosure analysis. Reach them at (508) 476-7007,
