EY has announced its combined global revenues last year grew at the fastest rate for five years to hit $25.8bn (£16bn), but warned of short term uncertainties ahead.
Revenues for the financial year ended 30 June 2013 are up by 7.7% in local currency terms over the previous financial year, while headcount reached an all-time high of 175,000.
EY said all service lines and geographies reported increased revenue, with advisory doing particularly well, up 18% to reach $5.8bn (£3.6bn) against a backdrop of slower growth in the wider market.
The firm's largest practice, assurance, saw revenues up by over 4% to $10.9bn (£6.8bn), with audit revenues up by 2.4%. EY singled out growth in fraud and investigation services (up by 23%) and financial accounting advisory services (up by 30%). Global tax revenues increased over 7% to $6.9bn (£4.3bn).
EY's global chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger said the robust performance came in a difficult economic environment and stated: 'Looking forward, there remain significant economic and geo-political uncertainties in developed and fast-growth emerging markets.'
Revenues grew fastest in the Americas region, up by 10.4% and including 24% growth in Brazil. Europe, Middle East, India and Africa revenues increased by 7%, described by EY as a good performance 'given the ongoing economic problems in several countries'. The Asia Pacific region revenues were up by 3.9%, led by strong growth of 10% in China and 14% in Vietnam. Japan reported modest growth of 0.8% after several years of flat revenues. Overall, emerging-market practices saw combined revenue growth of 12%.
EY's strongest performing industry sectors, all of which reported with double-digit growth, were automotive, financial services, consumer products, government and public sector and power and utilities.
Weinberger said the firm would be spending $400m (£249m) over the next three years on improving audit methodologies and tools, as well as a $1.2bn (0.75bn) investment in technology and services to help improve the way EY communicates with clients. The firm says it intends to take on 55,000 new recruits and interns worldwide over the next twelve months.
