rasers Group has approached all four major accounting firms about a 2029 audit contract. For investors, the outcome carries weight: a Big Four appointment would help narrow the governance discount on the stock, though ownership concentration and audit complexity remain.
Frasers Group is preparing to run a tender for a new Big Four auditor. The retail conglomerate, which trades under the Sports Direct banner and is majority-controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, has made Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC aware that it wants them to bid for its audit contract. Some Big Four firms are actively pursuing the mandate, according to the Financial Times, while others remain cautious given the group’s history. The market has not fully reset its view of Frasers, even as the company works to project a different picture.
The tender would be for a contract starting in 2029 – a year earlier than required under UK regulations – and timed to coincide with the expiry of the current lead audit partner’s maximum five-year term.
From near-pariah to Big Four prospect
The distance Frasers has traveled since 2019 is substantial, but the starting point was unusually low.
That year, Grant Thornton quit as auditor following a difficult period characterized by delayed financial results and the disclosure of a potential €674 million tax bill, according to the Financial Times. The investor advisory firm PIRC publicly branded the group, then still called Sports Direct, “an embarrassment to UK corporate governance.” More damaging still, the major audit firms declined to bid for the replacement contract, and several mid-tier firms also raised concerns about participating. RSM, a mid-tier accountancy firm, eventually stepped in and has audited the group since 2020.
The turnaround narrative Frasers has been building since then is well-documented.
Ashley stepped back from the chief executive role in 2022, handing it to his son-in-law Michael Murray. Murray has pushed the group toward a more professional operating model. In 2024, Frasers recruited Sir Jon Thompson, the former chief executive of the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC), to its board. Securing a Big Four auditor has since become a stated internal ambition.
A harder audit than it used to be
The complicating factor is that Frasers has become structurally more complex since 2019, not less.
Under Murray, the group has expanded further internationally, built a sizeable commercial property portfolio, and maintained Ashley’s longstanding practice of accumulating minority stakes in rival retailers and brands, frequently through derivatives. The group’s current portfolio of cross-holdings spans a wide range of retail assets, some of which have themselves faced financial difficulties.
For any incoming Big Four firm, the audit complexity is therefore real. The reputational calculation is also real: signing off Frasers’ accounts means putting a firm’s name on a client that remains closely associated with its founder, whose management style has never been entirely insulated from controversy.
Thompson’s presence on the board offers some cover. But a board appointment is not the same as a cultural transformation.
