Turkey launches antitrust probe into 65 audit firms, including Big Four local units

ISTANBUL, March 11 (Reuters) – Turkey’s competition authority has launched an investigation into 65 ​companies in the ‌auditing and financial advisory sector, including global accounting firms, it said on Wednesday.

The authority said ‌the ​probe includes ⁠the Turkish units ⁠of the so-called Big Four: KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY.

In a statement, the ​authority said the probe aims to determine whether ⁠firms and professional ⁠organisations in the ​sector coordinated on service fees ​or engaged in anti-competitive practices ‌in the labour market.

The authority said it is examining whether companies shared service ⁠prices or client portfolios in ways that may have violated competition, ⁠whether ‌they took decisions ⁠that could block ​market ‌entry or distort competition, ​and whether ⁠there shared information that negatively affected employee rights and wages.

(Reporting by Ebru TuncayWriting by Ezgi ErkoyunEditing by ​Mark Potter)