The Big Four firm reported a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% for fee income over the last four years, while also saying that fee income remained flat year on year due to a reduction in large cross border transactions and transformation projects.

Going into further detail, EY achieved 10% revenue growth for its assurance business and 4% growth for tax, while revenues for consulting and strategy and transactions decreased by 4% and 13% respectively.

Distributable profits before tax were £653 million (£659m in FY23). Average distributable profits per Partner were down 5% to £723,000 compared to £761,000 in FY23, reflecting the higher average partner numbers during FY24.

Hywel Ball, UK chair and UK&I managing partner, said: “In a year of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, we’ve delivered a strong performance and continued to invest in the business, our people and the communities in which we operate.

“With depressed UK and global deal activity and weak levels of corporate confidence during FY24, we have responded to the market to ensure we have the right platform for continued long-term growth and profitability.

“We’ve created jobs for 1,600 young people across the UK, continued to make significant investments in audit quality, and accelerated our investments in AI. These investments will support our long-term growth trajectory, whilst enabling us to adapt and serve the changing needs of our clients.

“The roots of our firm extend back over 200 years to James McClelland in Glasgow in 1824. We’re now a £3.70bn UK business with over 20,000 people, 22 offices and 3,500 student trainees at any one time. I’m incredibly proud of our business and teams and that we continue to be a significant source of growth and investment for the UK.”

Anna Anthony, EY UK & Ireland regional managing partner - elect, added: “In a challenging market, I’m proud that we’ve maintained our focus on the things that really matter – our people, our clients and the communities in which we operate.

“These long-term investments mean we are well positioned for the future and able to capitalise on the opportunities that come with an improving global macro-economic outlook.

“We’ve had a solid start to the first quarter of our new financial year, with an improving deals market benefitting our Strategy and Transactions business in particular. We expect to see this momentum continue to build as we go through the year.”