Deloitte & Touche took on the most new Securities and Exchange Commission clients in the first quarter of 2019, with 11 new engagements and a net of nine.

The Big Four firm’s figures were all the more impressive for coming in a relatively low-scoring quarter. While there was plenty of movement between auditors, few firms came out with large hauls.

Marcum brought on nine new engagements, for instance, but saw 11 clients go elsewhere. A few other firms, including EY and Grant Thornton, brought on six new clients, but netted fewer, while the vast majority of firms on this quarter’s list netted two or fewer.

Firm Wins and losses Net Deloitte +11 /-2 9 Grant Thornton +6/-1 5 RSM +4/-2 2 BDO USA +5/-4 1 BKD 0 0 KPMG +3/-4 -1 Marcum* +9/-11 -2 EisnerAmper +1/-3 -2 Moss Adams -2 -2 Crowe +1/-4 -3 EY +6/-13 -7 PwC +2/-11 -9

* Comprised of Marcum LLP & Marcum Bernstein Pinchuk LLP

(For a more extensive matrix of leading firms, click here; for the full list of Net Engagement Leaders, see the bottom of this article.)



Clients by filing status, and more

Given its commanding lead in new clients, it’s no surprise that Deloitte led in terms of both new large accelerated filers and new accelerated filer clients. Top 5 Firm RSM netted the most non-accelerated filers, while New Jersey-based Boyle CPA led among new smaller reporting companies brought on board.

Large accelerated filers Auditor Wins Losses Net Deloitte & Touche 7 2 5 Grant Thornton 3 1 2 BDO USA 1 1 0 Crowe 1 1 0 Accelerated filers Auditor Wins Losses Net Deloitte & Touche 3 0 3 Grant Thornton 3 0 3 Armanino 1 0 1 CliftonLarsonAllen 1 0 1 KPMG 1 0 1 Shandong Haoxin CPAs 1 0 1 BDO USA 2 2 0 Non-accelerated filers Auditor Wins Losses Net RSM 3 0 3 Marcum 4 2 2 BDO USA 2 0 2 Fruci & Associates 2 1 1 Smaller reporting companies Auditor Wins Losses Net Boyle CPA 5 0 5 BF Borgers CPA 4 1 3 Simon & Edward 4 1 3 Hall & Co. CPAs 3 0 3 KSP Group Inc. 3 0 3 M&K CPAs 3 0 3 RRBB & Co. 3 0 3 Heaton & Co. 4 2 2 Yu CPA 3 1 2 AJSH & Co. 2 0 2 JLKZ CPA 2 0 2 MAC Accounting Group 2 0 2 Accell Audit & Compliance 2 1 1 D Brooks & Associates CPAs 2 1 1 Friedman 2 1 1 Total Asia Associates 2 1 1

Ranked by net gain. Ties are broken by overall number of client wins, then by alphabetical order.

Interestingly, Deloitte’s haul of new clients put it at the top of the league tables for new market capitalization audited — with roughly $3.1 billion each from California-based software company Alteryx Inc. and business development company FS KKR Capital Corp., as well as $2.8 billion from Georgia-based cryogenic equipment maker Chart Industries — it only came second in audit fees, and third in assets audited.

KPMG took the top spot for assets audited, with $79.6 billion of its $80.2 billion coming from Alabama-based insurer Protective Life Corp.

Ernst & Young, meanwhile, took the top spot for new audit fees, with Hertz Global Holdings contributing the lion’s share at $13 million, and helping the Big Four firm come in second in assets audited, with $21.3 billion in new assets, or nearly half of the firm’s total. The firm also came in second in new market cap, with the biggest chunk, $5.8 billion, coming from California-based power management systems manufacturer Monolithic Power Systems.

By market capitalization audited Auditor Market cap Deloitte & Touche $16,770,934,505 Ernst & Young $11,580,387,267 Grant Thornton $4,419,647,451 KPMG $2,038,854,939 PricewaterhouseCoopers $1,749,423,058 BDO USA $1,747,076,310 Crowe $1,254,484,239 Marcum $592,964,671 JLKZ CPA $504,764,182 CliftonLarsonAllen $388,512,602 Simon & Edward $224,925,497 Yusufali & Associates $169,471,248 MNP $166,394,592 RSM $88,249,314 By assets audited Auditor Assets audited KPMG $80,210,937,000 Ernst & Young $41,479,061,000 Deloitte & Touche $26,109,310,000 BDO USA $6,703,764,955 Grant Thornton $5,864,603,000 Crowe $4,899,012,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers $4,829,601,000 CliftonLarsonAllen $2,328,864,000 RSM $1,971,522,701 Marcum $508,206,558 Plante & Moran $329,494,000 Shandong Haoxin CPAs $185,128,421 JLKZ CPA $92,885,353 ACM $89,933,000 Centurion ZD CPA & Co. $83,100,417 By audit fees Auditor Audit fees Ernst & Young $21,925,940 Deloitte & Touche $14,749,136 Grant Thornton $11,073,700 KPMG $8,435,679 PricewaterhouseCoopers $6,378,910 RSM $2,292,138 BDO USA $1,548,200 Marcum $741,193 Crowe $723,555 BDO India $600,000 ACM $374,988 CliftonLarsonAllen $344,000 Centurion ZD CPA & Co. $210,000 Wipfli $148,506 Davidson & Co. $132,018

Where previous quarters' rankings have been heavily influenced by mergers and acquisitions among auditing firms, they played relatively little role in this quarter's list, with very few firms bringing in significant numbers of clients who shared a previous auditor.

NET ENAGAGEMENT LEADERS



Accounting firm Net engagements New engagements Deloitte & Touche 9 11 Grant Thornton 5 6 Boyle CPA 5 5 KSP Group Inc 4 4 RRBB & Co. 4 4 BF Borgers CPA 3 4 Hall & Co. CPAs 3 4 Simon & Edward 3 4 JLKZ CPA 3 3 M&K CPAS 3 3 Heaton & Co. 2 4 RSM 2 4 Accell Audit & Compliance 2 3 Yu CPA 2 3 AJSH & Co. 2 2 Armanino 2 2 Davidson & Co. 2 2 MAC Accounting Group 2 2 Salberg & Co. 2 2 BDO USA 1 5 Friedman 1 3 Total Asia Associates 1 2 Wei Wei & Co 1 2 WWC CPAs 1 2 ACM 1 1 BDO India 1 1 Cherry Bekaert 1 1 CliftonLarsonAllen 1 1 Dylan Floyd Accounting 1 1 Exelient PAC 1 1 Kaufman Rossin & Co. 1 1 Pinnacle Accountancy Group 1 1 Plante Moran 1 1 Prager Metis CPAs 1 1 Ramirez Jimenez Int’l CPAs 1 1 RH CPA 1 1 Shandong Haoxin CPAs Co. Ltd 1 1 TAAD 1 1 Warren Averett 1 1 Weaver & Tidwell 1 1 Wipfli 1 1 Yichien Yeh CPA 1 1 Yusufali & Associates 1 1 Fruci & Associates 0 3 D Brooks & Associates CPAs 0 2

Ranked by net engagements; ties are broken by the number of new engagements, then by alphabetical order. † New engagements include significant gains from the same previous auditor, often an indication of a merger or other change in firm structure, or that some of the new engagements have a corporate affiliation, as with Ernst & Young picking up both Hertz Global Holdings and Hertz Corp. from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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, info@auditanalytics.com or www.auditanalytics.com.