As commentators collectively wonder where they might detect signs of growth in the global economy, they could do worse than look to the rise in fee income among the world’s leading accountancy firms.

Accountancy’s latest top 25 networks and associations survey shows growth for the second year in a row: in aggregate, an emphatic 8% or $11.2bn (£7.18bn). Total revenue reported in 2011 was $155bn. And although growth was modest in some quarters – RSM International, Fiducial and others reported only a 1% growth – all the firms in the top 25 survey reported increases. That improves on last year’s picture, when six organisations reported a drop in fee income.

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