# 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.

Accountancy Consolidators · https://accountancyconsolidators.co.uk/datasets/audit-firm-control-rules/ · computed 2026-10-29

**Range of the published figures:** 10 to 50 % (range 10 to 50 %; 3 published figures; 3 of 6 sources read publish one).

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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| rule controller-of-a-corporate-member | 15 % | 15 to 15 % | 1 |
| rule majority-stake | 50 % | 50 to 50 % | 1 |
| rule material-interest-approval | 10 % | 10 to 10 % | 1 |
| rule icaew-application-time | 12 week | 12 to 12 week | 1 |

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| [ICAEW: what private equity might mean for a firm's audit status](https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/feb-2025/what-private-equity-might-mean-for-a-firms-audit-status) | 50 % | majority-stake | 2026-10-28 |
| [Companies Act 2006, Schedule 10 Part 2 (requirements for recognition of a supervisory body)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/schedule/10/part/2) | 15 % | controller-of-a-corporate-member | 2026-10-28 |
| [ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure](https://www.icaew.com/technical/practice-resources/maintaining-your-firm-record/eligibility-considerations-when-making-changes-to-your-firm-structure) | 12 week | icaew-application-time | 2026-10-28 |
| [ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure](https://www.icaew.com/technical/practice-resources/maintaining-your-firm-record/eligibility-considerations-when-making-changes-to-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](https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/feb-2025/what-private-equity-might-mean-for-a-firms-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)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/schedule/10/part/2), 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](https://www.icaew.com/technical/practice-resources/maintaining-your-firm-record/eligibility-considerations-when-making-changes-to-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](https://www.icaew.com/technical/practice-resources/maintaining-your-firm-record/eligibility-considerations-when-making-changes-to-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

- [ICAEW (RSB): private equity investment in audit firms](https://www.icaew.com/regulation/working-in-the-regulated-area-of-audit/audit-regulations-and-guidance/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](https://www.icaew.com/regulation/regulatory-news/regulatory-news-2024-08/audit-eligibility-changes-check-your-firm-will-meet-new-requirements/reason-for-the-changes-and-key-definitions), read 2026-10-28: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [FRC: Ethical Standard for auditors](https://www.frc.org.uk/library/standards-codes-policy/audit-assurance-and-ethics/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

## Sources

- [Companies Act 2006, Schedule 10 Part 2 (requirements for recognition of a supervisory body)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/schedule/10/part/2) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ICAEW (RSB): private equity investment in audit firms](https://www.icaew.com/regulation/working-in-the-regulated-area-of-audit/audit-regulations-and-guidance/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](https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/feb-2025/what-private-equity-might-mean-for-a-firms-audit-status) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ICAEW: audit eligibility changes, key definitions](https://www.icaew.com/regulation/regulatory-news/regulatory-news-2024-08/audit-eligibility-changes-check-your-firm-will-meet-new-requirements/reason-for-the-changes-and-key-definitions) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ICAEW: eligibility when changing your firm structure](https://www.icaew.com/technical/practice-resources/maintaining-your-firm-record/eligibility-considerations-when-making-changes-to-your-firm-structure) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [FRC: Ethical Standard for auditors](https://www.frc.org.uk/library/standards-codes-policy/audit-assurance-and-ethics/ethical-standard-for-auditors/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- 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/.

CSV: https://accountancyconsolidators.co.uk/datasets/audit-firm-control-rules.csv
JSON: https://accountancyconsolidators.co.uk/datasets/audit-firm-control-rules.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://accountancyconsolidators.co.uk/datasets/audit-firm-control-rules/#median