Financial Times · February 6, 2026

KPMG Pressed Its Auditor to Pass On AI Cost Savings

The Big Four firm told Grant Thornton UK: AI makes your job cheaper — so cut our fees, or lose our business. Grant Thornton blinked.

FT February 6, 2026 · Stephen Foley, New York
Photo: Unsplash
The Negotiation

KPMG threatened to walk.

KPMG International vs. Grant Thornton UK · 2025

KPMG told Grant Thornton — its own auditor — that AI makes audits faster and cheaper, so those savings should flow back to the client. When Grant Thornton resisted, KPMG threatened to find a new accountant.

High‑quality audits rely heavily on expert human judgment, so our fees reflect both the cost of our people and the cost of the technology that supports them.

— Grant Thornton UK, in response to the FT

The Numbers

Grant Thornton cut fees by 14%.

2024
$416K
Audit fee paid
→
2025
$357K
After AI discount
Fee reduction: −$59,000  (−14%)
Source: UK Companies House filing, 2026 · Reported by Financial Times
The Bigger Picture

Could every company now demand lower audit fees?

The Precedent

KPMG's move could embolden companies to press their auditors for similar AI-driven reductions — even as industry-wide audit fees have been rising every year amid heavy AI investment.

The Tension

Firms say AI improves quality, not just speed — and building AI systems costs money too. KPMG's own statement to the FT: "AI's most likely impact will be to improve audit quality," not lower prices.

The irony:  KPMG — one of the world's largest auditors — used the AI efficiency argument against its own auditor. The same argument their clients may now use against them.
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Read how the negotiations unfolded, who led them, and what the industry data says about AI's real impact on audit pricing.

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