The Big Four firm’s UK group revenue, taking in its UK and Swiss operations, grew by 13.6% to £3.04bn. Deloitte remains in second place in the Accountancy Top 75 rankings, behind PwC which posted £3.08bn in the most recent survey.

Its consulting arm grew 10% to £756m, up from £687m in 2015, while tax posted 11% growth as it took £654m, rising from £590m in 2015. Financial advisory generated £475m, an 11% increase on £428m on the previous year. Audit and risk advisory rose 16% to £824m from £708m in 2015. The firm’s Swiss operation grew 26% to £335m having taken £267m in 2015.

Profit distributable to partners was £608m, compared to £593m in 2015. The average profit earned by each equity partner in the year, based on the firm’s distributable profit, was £837,000, compared with £822,000 in the financial year 2015.

The firm’s gender pay gap stands at 16.8% this year, down on 17.8% in 2015, and against a national average of 19.2%. 

Deloitte senior partner and chief executive David Sproul told CCH Daily: ‘We’re pleased because it’s a continuation of the progress from previous years and it’s a very strong year itself. But we’re also slightly circumspect given Brexit and how we’ll see that pan out.

‘Business sentiment changed about 18 months ago and became far more resilient and confident and therefore started investing far more. Business also became very focused on getting growth again, and our own growth came from M&A-type activities for clients and also where businesses were looking at markets. Customer and digital has been a big piece of the growth, as more and more businesses look at digital.’