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Britain's Competition Commission decided in October the country's top 350 companies must put their book-keeping out to tender at least once a decade, to shake up a market dominated by KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte. Since then, the EU agreed in December to go a step further and force listed companies across the 28-country bloc from 2016 to actually change their accountant every 10 years.
Britain's Competition Commission had initially backed mandatory switching but its final report was watered down.
Both sets of reforms are part of a regulatory clampdown following the 2007-09 financial crisis, because auditors had given banks a clean bill of health just before many had to be rescued by taxpayers.
"We are keen to follow the principles of better regulation, including by ensuring that our orders do not contradict or duplicate EU regulation", Britain's Competition Commission said in a statement on Friday. "We anticipate further rounds of consultation on our revised orders in the third quarter of 2014 and a commencement date in quarter four."
Statement by Competition Commission