Companies often select one of the big four accounting firms as their corporate auditor because of pressure to do so from their lenders or their investment bank advisers, according to feedback provided to a group looking at ways to promote competition in the auditing profession.

The feedback, published yesterday, is in response to proposals published in April by a panel appointed by the Financial Reporting Council aimed at promoting competition and mitigating risks if one of the big four accounting firms should suddenly withdraw from the market.