Ernst & Young's profit per partner ratio is down on previous years despite posting an 11% upswing in revenue for its UK business - its biggest rise for six years.

The Big Four firm reported revenues of £1.6bn, and put the growth down to its 'globalisation strategy, investment in top talent across the country and some significant new client wins'.

Steve Varley, UK chairman and managing partner of E&Y, who wouldn't be drawn on the exact partner profit figures, said the firm had witnessed a dip in partner profits this year, which when coupled with last year's rise, equated to it being 'broadly flat' over the past 24 months.

'I am very proud of what we have achieved in an uncertain market. We have posted our highest revenue growth since 2006, which in large part was driven by bold ambitions to go beyond the UK to look for growth opportunities.'

For the first time in three years, E&Y's UK operation showed increased revenue streams in all four of its service lines. Tax leapt by 16% at £431m, while Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) was up 10% at £306m, having benefitted from pre and post-deal integration activity, while its advisory side posted double digit growth of 12% (£416m).

Its audit business grew 8% to pull in £478m, despite losing the FTSE 250 Stobart Group account - which it had held since 2002 - to KPMG. The Stobart setback was tempered with new audit wins at Dyson and the soon-to-be-defunct Audit Commission.

Varley, who has just returned from Brazil where he was part of the British trade delegation accompanying prime minister David Cameron, stepped into the debate on the ongoing audit reform plans.

'We have had time frames of six to seven years and 25 years being bandied around, but our response to the FRC was that we would be comfortable with 10 years for mandatory re-tendering.'

He reiterated E&Y's submission to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) that his firm advocated a procurement process that separates pitch from price where the proposal is 'silent on price' until it is unveiled in the second round. This, he said, would ensure that quality always won through over price.

Varley put much of the firm's growth down to the company's focus on leveraging the UK's operations expertise in emerging markets.

'We've seen some exceptional growth across our business from advising UK companies on exporting, particularly to the BRICs, where we have long-established dedicated UK based trade teams for each country. We continue to expand the trade teams and now support seven fast growth markets, with further plans to add Korea, Nigeria and South Africa.'

E&Y had continued to invest during the recession, Varley said, pointing to the 1,200 new UK employees that had joined the company.

He said the firm has undertaken several large-scale transformational projects and had helped its clients tackle some of their biggest challenges such as regulatory reform and falling equity returns.

Looking to the future, Varley said: 'We have built some strong momentum and are keen to build on our many successes this year.'