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Kamall said: "I am starting this process with an open mind. There may be a case for tackling the dominance of the Big 4 and finding ways to improve auditing quality but I want to hear from investors and companies whether they believe that the current auditing system is broken. After all, the last Directive dealing with audit has yet to be fully implemented in many Member States.
"There could be significant unintended consequences if we legislate more than absolutely necessary.
"I'm also not sure that dealing with the dominance of the Big 4 audit firms in this context is the right approach. The OFT has just referred the Big 4 to the Competition Commission in the UK, making clear that competition issues should be dealt with by competition authorities. I would have expected perceived competition issues to have been dealt with by the competition directorate rather than the busy internal market directorate.
"If there are genuine problems in the audit market then we should find genuine solutions for them. However, we should avoid imposing "knee jerk" solutions or forced competition which ultimately could make the auditing market weaker."