The Competition Authority has published an opinion No. 1/2025 , The Conduct of Quality Control over the Work of Auditors, which deals with the arrangement and performance of quality control over auditors and audit firms. The Board of Auditors is responsible for the supervision in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 94/2019. The opinion sets out the conclusions that can be drawn from the Competition Authority's observations on the implementation of the quality control.
In practice, the supervision is outsourced to practising auditors, which can involve auditors being commissioned to carry out quality reviews at their competitors' firms. The Competition Authority's investigation has concluded that the current arrangement for the quality control of audit firms and auditors is likely to harm competition in the relevant market and thus contravenes the objective of the Competition Act.
In its opinion, the Competition Authority recommends that the government change the current practice of the supervision, but in the meantime, to prevent it from being in the hands of direct competitors of the parties currently under supervision.
The opinion is issued pursuant to Article 18 of the Competition Act, which provides that the Competition Authority shall draw the Minister's attention in an opinion if it considers that a provision of an Act or a government regulation contravenes the purpose of the Act or impedes free competition. The opinion is also based on c-item of the first paragraph of Article 8. Article 8(c) of the same Act, which provides that the Competition Authority shall ensure that the actions of public authorities do not restrict competition and shall advise the government on ways to make competition more effective and to facilitate the entry of new operators into the market.
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