Briefly

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to avoid losing another major audit firm to legal trouble and has plans ready in case one of the so-called Big Four firms stumbles, accounting academics and sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The possibility that the audit industry’s heavy hitters could narrow to the Big Three took on more urgency last week when Big Four firm KPMG apologized publicly for helping set up illegal tax shelters in years past.

An indictment of KPMG by the Justice Department, seen as a remote possibility, could frighten clients away from the firm, as happened in March 2002 when Justice indicted Arthur Andersen, then one of the Big Five.