RATING OF LATVIAN AUDIT COMPANIES 2000

MARKET OVERVIEW

There were approximately 65 companies on the Latvian audit market in 1999. Comparing to 1998, when there were about 55 firms, one can observe just a slight increase in the number of the market participants. Two new companies (SIA "LIKKONS" and SIA "Pasîvs Plus") from those, that were included in the list of auditors explored by us, were registered in 1999. There were approximately 118 sworn auditors at the end of 1999. By the end of 2000 it has increased to 125 specialists (according to the data from Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors), which does not represent a substantial increase either. Geographical distribution of living places of the sworn auditors (see the map) shows that the situation in 2000 did not change in the regions where sworn auditors had not been registered previously. However, it should be mentioned, that the living place of the auditors does not necessarily show the place of their operation. Thus, the geographical distribution of the sworn auditors should be perceived very relatively.

The total turnover of all the auditing firms included in the rating amounted to approximately 11,5 million LVL in 1999, which, as we assume, composes 85 - 90% of the total auditing market. In 1999 there was a modest increase (about 8%) in the total audit firms' turnover comparing to 1998. However, taking into account deflation of producer prices for the same period that equaled to 4%, the real growth of the total audit market turnover was close to 12%. Speaking about the number of specialists working in audit firms, it can be noted that in general no considerable dynamics was observed. However, if separate groups of auditors are viewed, then it becomes clear that the amount of specialists in foreign firms in 1999 increased by 36% on average as compared to that in 1998; at the same time the number of specialists in local companies remained rather stable. As before the foreign companies had larger weight in the market rather than local audit firms. In 1999 the foreign firms formed 75% of the market while the local auditors represented 25% of it (see the graph). The situation in 1998 was similar although slightly more favorable for the local companies: 28% - local auditors and 72% - foreign ones.

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