Global accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has seen its global revenues of member firms fall by 4.9% to $26.1bn, a result of the global economic downturn, it says. Local currency shows a 1% growth for the firm. The firm has seen a 2% growth in its consultancy practice but audit and tax remained flat. Deloitte's global chief executive Jim Quigley said this did not pose a risk of the firm becoming a consultancy-dominated practice. 'The reality of it is in the turbulent economic climate of the past year. Our consulting business had the opportunity to assist many clients in dealing with the challenges they were facing and we worked hard to navigate them through the volatile times,' Quigley told Accountancy. Europe and the Americas reported the least growth, at 0.9% and -1.3% in local currency respectively, while the Middle East reported a 15.6% growth and Asia 7.6%. 'We are not immune to the economic climate,' Quigley said, 'and when you look at what happened to global GDP and GDP in most places and then you look at Asia, some places in Asia didn't even have a recession and the professional services markets there were able to move forward in a strong way.' 'We are working as we did in the volatile times to help our clients prepare to come out of this downturn,' he added.