Who Audits Private Funds? Auditors by Market Share (2024 Filings)

The four firms that audit the most private funds, PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG, audit 65% of the private funds that report an annual audit and 89% of those funds' gross assets, according to SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024. PwC audits the most funds, 13,579, according to SEC data. Measured by gross assets, EY leads, with 32.8% of the audited total, according to SEC data.

35% of the 105,787 private funds in the filings report no annual audit, and 74% of those are venture capital funds, according to Form ADV. This count covers the private funds of SEC-registered advisers and exempt reporting advisers alike, from each adviser's latest filing up to December 31, 2024, the latest period the SEC has published in full.

The 25 audit firms private funds name most

Each audited fund is counted once for each firm it names, so a fund with two auditors counts for both. Gross assets leave out feeder funds and funds of funds, whose assets are largely counted again in the funds they invest in.

Rank	Audit firm	Audited private funds	Share of audited funds	Gross assets of those funds	Share of audited gross assets	Private equity	Hedge	Venture capital	Real estate	Source
1	PwC	13,579	19.6%	$5.91 trillion	25.3%	5,707	3,293	1,449	868	SEC
2	EY	12,683	18.3%	$7.67 trillion	32.8%	6,089	3,433	880	1,186	SEC
3	Deloitte	9,494	13.7%	$3.62 trillion	15.5%	4,732	1,793	686	972	SEC
4	KPMG	9,197	13.3%	$3.62 trillion	15.5%	4,222	2,004	963	674	SEC
5	RSM	3,089	4.5%	$457 billion	2.0%	1,647	454	594	159	SEC
6	BDO	2,456	3.5%	$451 billion	1.9%	966	263	1,076	55	SEC
7	Frank, Rimerman	1,916	2.8%	$147 billion	0.6%	295	5	1,581	4	SEC
8	Grant Thornton	1,891	2.7%	$487 billion	2.1%	1,135	309	151	91	SEC
9	CohnReznick	1,403	2.0%	$69.8 billion	0.3%	576	206	112	273	SEC
10	EisnerAmper	1,300	1.9%	$195 billion	0.8%	692	339	153	32	SEC
11	Weaver	835	1.2%	$32.8 billion	0.1%	385	92	202	68	SEC
12	Plante Moran	631	0.9%	$70.6 billion	0.3%	338	13	128	92	SEC
13	Baker Tilly	602	0.9%	$58.8 billion	0.3%	211	115	85	89	SEC
14	Spicer Jeffries	574	0.8%	$17.7 billion	0.1%	102	270	76	24	SEC
15	WithumSmith+Brown	518	0.7%	$33.1 billion	0.1%	171	102	198	25	SEC
16	Sensiba	501	0.7%	$29.6 billion	0.1%	170	0	329	0	SEC
17	Moss Adams	485	0.7%	$36.6 billion	0.2%	149	14	226	41	SEC
18	Richey May	478	0.7%	$10.9 billion	under 0.1%	214	171	38	15	SEC
19	Marcum	394	0.6%	$30.1 billion	0.1%	118	83	58	96	SEC
20	Forvis	368	0.5%	$21.3 billion	0.1%	230	10	28	70	SEC
21	Cohen & Co	341	0.5%	$18.7 billion	0.1%	84	103	29	30	SEC
22	Mayer Hoffman McCann	300	0.4%	$41.0 billion	0.2%	169	8	90	15	SEC
23	Mazars	296	0.4%	$50.1 billion	0.2%	124	34	48	25	SEC
24	Crowe	283	0.4%	$27.2 billion	0.1%	191	39	15	27	SEC
25	Berkower	214	0.3%	$9.6 billion	under 0.1%	89	61	41	8	SEC

Download this table (CSV), free, with every filed name grouped under each firm. The full dataset, every audited fund with its adviser, type, gross assets and auditor as filed, is one email away.

Who audits each kind of fund

Fund type	Private funds	Report an annual audit	Audited by the largest 4	Audits the most	Source
Private equity	35,083	88%	68%	EY (6,089)	SEC
Hedge	14,479	96%	75%	EY (3,433)	SEC
Venture capital	37,414	28%	39%	Frank, Rimerman (1,581)	SEC
Real estate	6,446	88%	65%	EY (1,186)	SEC
Other private	9,115	87%	68%	PwC (2,141)	SEC
Securitized asset	3,149	18%	88%	Deloitte (173)	SEC
Liquidity	101	90%	79%	EY (29)	SEC

• EY audits the most private equity, hedge and real estate funds, according to SEC data.
• Venture capital funds are the most numerous type in the filings, and 28% report an annual audit, the lowest share of any fund type with more than 5,000 funds, according to Form ADV. Frank, Rimerman audits the most of those that are audited.
• 34% of the 46,319 funds reported only by exempt reporting advisers report an annual audit, against 90% of the funds of SEC-registered advisers, according to SEC data.
• Outside the largest four, RSM audits the most private funds, 3,089, according to SEC data.

Form ADV records whether a fund's financial statements are audited each year and by whom. It does not record why a fund is not audited, so this page does not give a reason.

What this means for technology buyers

An annual audit sets the calendar for a private fund's back office: the books, the valuation support and the investor statements all have to be ready for the auditor. These guides compare the systems involved side by side:

• Audit management systems: evidence requests, workpapers and findings in one place.
• Investor relations and reporting platforms: the audited statements and reports investors receive.
• Subscription and capital call management: investor records that an auditor tests.
• Hedge fund operations platforms for emerging managers: a first fund's operating stack, audit included.

Designing the operating model? The Private Equity Capability Model maps the work of a private fund manager, from fundraising to financial reporting.

More from Finantrix Atlas

• Who audits US registered funds
• Who administers private funds
• Largest private fund managers
• Largest venture capital firms

How this was counted

Form ADV asks each adviser, for every private fund it reports in Schedule D, Section 7.B.(1), whether the fund's financial statements are subject to an annual audit and, if so, the name of each auditing firm (question 23 of the form). This page reads the SEC's Form ADV filing data and takes each adviser's latest filing up to December 31, 2024, from SEC-registered advisers and exempt reporting advisers alike.

An adviser that is on neither of the SEC's monthly lists of registered and exempt reporting advisers for the week after that date has withdrawn or filed its final report, so its funds are left out: 1,275 advisers with 3,505 funds. For 10,568 of the 10,575 advisers that remain, the count of private funds and their gross assets match the SEC's own monthly figures to within one percent. Each fund has one identification number on Form ADV, which every adviser to it uses, so a fund reported by two advisers is counted once; 399 reports were such second copies.

Auditor names are typed by the adviser, so one firm appears under many spellings and member firms. They are grouped by firm under two rules checked on every build: no filed name may match two firms, and at least 90% of auditor entries must resolve to a named firm (95% do). Member firms of the largest networks abroad, such as an offshore or European practice, are grouped with their network, because a fund names the member firm where it is audited. Mergers after the filing date are not applied. A name that does not resolve is listed as its own firm.

Limits

• As of the SEC's latest full release. The SEC publishes Form ADV filing data in periods; the latest runs through December 31, 2024. A change of auditor since then is not reflected.
• Advisers that file with the SEC only. Funds whose advisers are registered only with a state, or file nothing with the SEC, are not in the data.
• Counts of funds, not fees. A small fund counts the same as a large one. Gross assets are shown so the difference is visible; they are gross, as filed, not net assets.
• Grouping is a judgment. The filed names under each firm are in the free table, so any grouping can be checked or redone.

Cite this

Free to quote, cite and republish, including the chart, with credit to Finantrix Atlas and a link to this page.

PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG audit 65% of audited private funds and 89% of their gross assets, according to a Finantrix Atlas analysis of SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024.

35% of private funds report no annual audit on Form ADV, and 74% of those are venture capital funds, according to Finantrix Atlas analysis of SEC data.

Suggested citation: Finantrix Atlas, "Who Audits Private Funds?", from SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024. https://www.finantrix.com/articles/private-fund-auditors

Embed the chart:

<a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/private-fund-auditors"><img src="https://www.finantrix.com/atlas/private-fund-auditors.png" alt="Private fund auditors by number of audited funds, from Finantrix Atlas"></a>
<p>Chart: <a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/private-fund-auditors">Finantrix Atlas</a>, from SEC Form ADV data.</p>

Frequently asked questions

Q: Which firm audits the most private funds? A: PwC, with 13,579 audited private funds, 19.6% of those that report an annual audit, according to SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024.

Q: How much of the private fund audit market do the largest firms have? A: According to SEC Form ADV data, PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG audit 65% of audited private funds and 89% of their gross assets.

Q: Are all private funds audited? A: No. 35% of the 105,787 private funds in SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024 report no annual audit, most of them venture capital funds, according to SEC data.

Q: Who audits the most hedge funds and private equity funds? A: According to SEC Form ADV data, EY audits the most hedge funds and EY the most private equity funds.