The UK's top 60 accountancy firms have seen their combined revenue push through the £11bn barrier in 2012, up almost 8% on the previous year.

The findings are revealed in the latest annual Top 60 survey by Accountancy magazine, published by CCH.

An increase in the fee income of the largest accountancy firms over the last two years followed the turbulent days of 2010 when combined annual income fell for the first time since the recession of the 1990s.

The number of trainees is also up. Now more than 13,000 individuals are being trained by the firms.

Accountancy editor, Sara White, said: 'Regardless of any movements down the league table, the latest Top 60 survey shows the Big Four continue to dominate, controlling more than three quarters of total fee income. Short of a mass merger, there is little likelihood of any change in their dominance.

'Standing in the wings in early 2013 is the potential for a shake-up as the Competition Commission and the European Commission ponder next steps - the CC is planning to report the findings of its audit probe in late January, although the Commission is likely to defer any vote on audit reform until it sees the outcome of the year-long probe by the UK watchdog.'

The four largest firms - PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young - have the lion's share of fee income. Between them they earned £8.35bn during 2012, an increase of 9.6% on the previous year and accounting for 76% of annual earnings across the top 60 firms. By contrast, a number of mid-tier firms - such as BDO and Baker Tilly - barely saw increases. Grant Thornton, ranked number five in the table, did buck the mid-tier trend with 10% year on year growth, reporting fee income of £417.1m in 2012, up from £377m the previous year. It is worth noting that the merger of BDO and PKF in early 2013 could shake up the market further.

Steve Varley, UK managing partner at Ernst & Young, has seen the firm's fee income grow more than 11% over the past year. 'This is the highest rate for six years,' he says.

Ranked number four in the Accountancy survey of income, Varley sees one area of growth coming from the need for E&Y's clients to do business with emerging markets: 'In the UK we are making sure that our clients don't view us as a domestic firm.'

To read the full survey report, Top 60 survey: Boom and bust, click HERE