Private equity audit firm rules: Audit Firm Control Rules
The Audit Firm Control Rules carries 3 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages, from 10 to 50 percent, read 28 October 2026.
3 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 3 publish none, read 28 October 2026.
By rule
| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| rulecontroller-of-a-corporate-member | 15% | 15 to 15% | 1 |
| rulemajority-stake | 50% | 50 to 50% | 1 |
| rulematerial-interest-approval | 10% | 10 to 10% | 1 |
| ruleicaew-application-time | 12week | 12 to 12week | 1 |
Every figure, with its source
One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICAEW: what private equity might mean for a firm's audit status | 50% | majority-stake | 2026-10-28 |
| Companies Act 2006, Schedule 10 Part 2 (requirements for recognition of a supervisory body) | 15% | controller-of-a-corporate-member | 2026-10-28 |
| ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure | 12week | icaew-application-time | 2026-10-28 |
| ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure | 10% | material-interest-approval | 2026-10-28 |
The sentence each figure was read from (4)
- ICAEW: what private equity might mean for a firm's audit status, read 2026-10-28:
While a majority stake is more than 50%, some audit firms may have clauses in their governance arrangements that specify higher thresholds, in some cases as much as 75% or even 100%.
- Companies Act 2006, Schedule 10 Part 2 (requirements for recognition of a supervisory body), read 2026-10-28:
In sub-paragraph (2)(b) and (c) “controller”, in relation to a body corporate, means a person who either alone or with an associate or associates is entitled to exercise or control the exercise of 15% or more of the rights to vote on all, or substantially all, matters at general meetings of the body or another body corporate of which it is a subsidiary.
- ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure, read 2026-10-28:
Please allow 8-12 weeks from the date the Regulatory Support team has obtained all of the required application information and has passed your application to the case manager team.
- ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure, read 2026-10-28:
We can’t license sub-contractors or consultants; and ensure all non-authorised persons holding a material interest have been approved by ICAEW (this includes a person holding at least 10% of the shares in a body).
Read in full, publishes no figure
3 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- ICAEW (RSB): private equity investment in audit firms, read 2026-10-28: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- ICAEW: audit eligibility changes, key definitions, read 2026-10-28: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- FRC: Ethical Standard for auditors, read 2026-10-28: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
Methodology
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).
3 of the 6 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 3 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 22 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.
The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the majority-control test (a majority of voting rights held by qualified persons, Sch 10 para 7), ICAEW's clarified definitions of majority and voting rights (effective 1 Oct 2024, compliance by 1 Apr 2025) and the independence consequences of PE ownership; each with its clause and date
22 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (6)
- Companies Act 2006, Schedule 10 Part 2 (requirements for recognition of a supervisory body)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW (RSB): private equity investment in audit firms(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW: what private equity might mean for a firm's audit status(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW: audit eligibility changes, key definitions(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- FRC: Ethical Standard for auditors(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
The Audit Firm Control Rules carries 3 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages, from 10 to 50 percent, read 28 October 2026.
3 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 3 publish none, read 28 October 2026.
Audit Firm Control Rules, rule controller-of-a-corporate-member: median 15 percent across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
Audit Firm Control Rules, rule majority-stake: median 50 percent across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
Audit Firm Control Rules, rule material-interest-approval: median 10 percent across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
Audit Firm Control Rules, rule icaew-application-time: median 12 week across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
Cite as: "accountancyconsolidators.co.uk Audit Firm Control Rules", updated 2026-10-29, https://accountancyconsolidators.co.uk/datasets/audit-firm-control-rules/.
Download the CSV (4 rows, computed 2026-10-29)