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There are four audit companies -- PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG -- that together audit 99% of companies in the FTSE 100. If you don't hire them, you get looked at funny.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_%28audit_firms%29

Welcome to the world of auditing. You hire an auditing company that knows a lot, and they send you their newbies.

And you manipulate them by hiring the same auditing firm for consulting and ramp up the pressure when it comes time for them to give an unqualified opinion. Those newbies and the audit partner will be crushed by the avarice of the other partners selling consulting services. Work they would not get if they were not the audit firm.

Whether it's legal or not it is corruption and makes a good case for regulation. If you audit a firm, the audit firm and its related entities cannot sell anything else to that firm and its related entities.

Is it likely? Well who would lobby for it? Who would lobby against it? How much are they willing to spend. Democracy.

This was a large hedge fund and the auditors were name brand auditors. They still had no idea what they were doing :/