In 2000 approximately 80 audit companies were operating in Latvia (compared to about 70 firms in 1999). One can notice the newly established SIA "Sandra Dzerele un partneri" and SIA "D. Daņēvičas rev. birojs" included in our table. The amount of sworn auditors increased from 125 in 2000 to 134 in 2001. New sworn auditors have been registered in the regions, where there were no any previously, such as Daugavpils, Bauska, and Jekabpils.

In the total turnover of all the auditing firms in Latvia there is a clear growing trend observed. In 2000 the total turnover of all the auditing companies included in our overview was roughly equal to 13.5 million LVL, which, as we assume, comprises 90-95% of the actual total audit and business consulting market. In comparison to 1999, the market has expanded by 20%. If the growth in producer prices of 0.8% is taken into account, the turnover increase is 19.2%.

If one looks separately at the contribution of local and foreign companies to the total turnover growth, it is obvious that local companies grow at a much higher pace than the foreign companies, especially in 2000 (24.9%).

One more important thing that has to be considered is that Arthur Andersen and KPMG Latvia have changed their financial year; hence their turnover in 2000 is only for 8 and 9 months respectively. In order to make the financial results of all the companies comparable, we have extrapolated their turnover numbers for the remaining 4 and 3 months respectively, and thereby calculated the annual turnover indicators of the mentioned companies.

Looking from the perspective of absolute market shares, it can be noted that as before foreign companies have considerably larger weight in the total audit and business consulting market. In 2000 foreign companies form 73% of the market. Yet, a vivid growing trend in the market share of local companies can be observed. In 1998 the weight of local companies in the market was equal to 25%, in 1999 it slightly increased to 26%, and in 2000 it reached 27% share.