Mid-tier firm Grant Thornton has experienced a 4.1% fall in turnover to £378.2m, a figure that takes into account the fallout of its merger with Robson Rhodes, and one that chief executive Scott Barnes says is 'in line' with other firms. Audit at the firm saw a 3.4% growth to £121.2m for the year ending 30 June 2009, while recovery and reorganisation grew by 11% to £75.4m, and forensics leapt by 13.1% to £16.7m. 'The forensic area has grown, [it's] certainly a strong growth area and what we are finding increasingly is the recovery and reorganisation practice is working a lot more closely with forensics so there's a lot of cross-over. For example, cases like Madoff involve forensics and recovery,' Barnes said. While some services have seen growth, the firm's corporate finance and tax revenues fell, by 33% and 4.9% respectively. Grant Thornton's merger with Robson Rhodes in July 2007 and subsequent restructuring led a fall in profit per partner of 19% to £201,000, while the number of partners also dropped 19% from 286 to 235. Around 200 staff left the firm. 'To put it bluntly, we had too many partners and we had too many people, probably too much overhead what the management team has been doing is essentially right-sizing the business,' Barnes said. But he remains confident for the 2008/09 financial year now the firm has accounted for the merger. 'We are predicting a big bounce in profits and profit per partner', he said, adding that the firm is yet to see the benefits of its merger. 'The strategic reason for doing the merger was to improve our strength in certain areas. Certainly in London we increased the size of our practice by doing the merger, and in metropolitan cities like Birmingham and Leeds.' Looking forward, Barnes predicts the challenge for the firm will be to position itself for growth. 'My own view is that firms will see revenues remain fairly flat this year, perhaps even contracting. The issue there is making sure cost base is the right size for revenues but also thinking about the future and making sure we have a strong corporate finance and audit business to take account of the upturn.'