The country’s top four accountancy firms were found to be monopolizing the external audit services for Korea’s top 10 conglomerates in 2013, data showed Wednesday.

Of the 83 firms affiliated with the top 10 business groups, 96.4 percent appointed Samil PwC, Samjong KPMG, Hanyoung Ernst & Young and Deloitte Anjin as their external auditors in 2013, according to the regulatory filings.

The comparable figures for 2011 and 2012 were 96.4 percent, the data showed, indicating that conglomerates have not switched to smaller auditors over the past three years.

“The problem is that the long-standing relationships between the accountancy firms and the conglomerates could hurt an auditor’s independence,” said Jang Ha-na, a researcher at Corporate Governance Service.

Samil PwC accounted for 31.3 percent of the external audit service market for the conglomerates in 2013, followed by Samjong KPMG with 25.3 percent, Deloitte Anjin with 24.1 percent and Hanyoung Ernst & Young with 14.5 percent.

(kys@heraldcorp.com)