In India, members of the company has the liberty to choose joint auditors. A joint audit has a further benefit in that it can encourage more competition between audit firms. Despite the fact that two Big Four firms can still be used on a joint audit, there is an opportunity for companies to be more willing to engage other firms in the process. The Big Four then becomes the best seven or eight, as more firms are given the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities, while clients can retain a Big Four signature where they feel it is needed. A recent report produced by consultants London Economics for the European Commission highlighted that France and Denmark (two countries with joint audits) are the two least concentrated audit markets in Europe. Some critics believe that it is difficult for two firms, who outside of the joint audit are competitors, to easily co-operate with each other during the audit. The degree of co-operation, and its effectiveness, is essentially down to the spirit in which the two audit firms approach the joint audit. If they approach the audit with a willingness to work together to provide a company's shareholders with what they truly value – namely confidence in the financial position of the company in which they are investing – communication will not be a problem. If they favour competition over collaboration, the outcome is poor. Increased costs is the most commonly cited objection to joint audits. Joint audit adds approximately 10% to audit time, mostly at the highest levels of the audit team (managers and partners). In the longer term, it could bring about a reduction in audit costs as a result of (1) increased market competition, and (2) benchmarking of prices and efficiencies between the two joint auditors by the Audit Committee of the audited organization. Joint audit delivers increased reporting on audit time and rates applied across the group. A recent comparative analysis of audit fees between Germany and France shows that companies with joint audit pay significantly less for their audit than companies without joint audit. Joint audit increases time spent by the senior staff on the audit team, and the senior management of the group or organization. A joint tax audit is the examination of a business or individual tax return by a common audit team with members of two or more States examining cross-border tax situations as one tax audit to gain a uniform actual and legal assessment concerning this situation.