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Mazars teams up with Audit Commission's mutual

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29th Sep 2011
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Accountancy firm Mazars has partnered up with DA Partnership, an Audit Commission spin-off, to deliver an employee-owned enterprise that will bid for public audits.

The UK’s 12th largest accountancy firm has taken a minority stake in the new mutual that was formed by former Audit Commission staff after the government announced last year that it was abolishing the commission.

The new enterprise will seek a share of the £89.4m of the contracts that are out to tender for 2012/13 and will start trading formally should it win any contracts. It will bid alongside private sector firms for the work that includes the auditing of councils and other public bodies.

Gareth Davies, the former head of the commission's audit practice, is leading the new mutual and is now collaborating with Mazars public services partner Mike Attenborough-Cox.

Davies said: "For an employee-owned mutual, it is crucial we have a strategic partner to make our bid possible". Davis also hinted at the possibility of working with Mazars beyond the UK: "Maybe we can work together beyond the UK, provided we have a strong launchpad through this process," he said.

Currently 30% of the Audit Commission's work is already outsourced – to PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, Grant Thornton and PKF. The remaining 70% of its contracts will be out to tender, however no one firm will be allowed to bid for more than 40% of these.

Mazars does not currently carry out any of the council audit work undertaken by private sector auditors.

While Mazars is providing financial backing in return for a percentage of the profits, some of the firm's profits will also be directed to a charitable foundation that will run research into audit issues.

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