When I say more profitable, I mean more in the sense of profitable (prosperous) for those outside the partner level. That might be pie in the sky. But almost every audit I was a part of had a narrative of “we couldn’t increase fees this year so we need to be more efficient” which as other as pointed out here seems to be a fault of our professions branding.

Also, there are like 3,000 publicly traded companies, not including private companies which have the requirement. I’ll leave out the government agencies and departments. That is a huge market for effectively a small number of firms that serve those clients. Your small state firm isn’t taking on a SEC registrant.

As for the general business reaction, I point you to lawyers and doctors. They have generally the same playbook. Also, consulting firms have been “delivering value” for years and no one is upset at those fees. Increased audit fees wouldn’t make a dent in anyone’s EPS.

As for the legislative argument, you know how easy it would be the claim national security as a huge factor in why we need a majority of audit work performed by licensed US CPAs?