Big Four giant EY posted a two per cent rise in UK fee income over the past year and hiked payouts for its partners, even as its consulting arm came under pressure from what it said was a “challenging market”.

For the financial year ending 3 July 2026, the firm reported UK fee income of £3.86bn, up from £3.78bn the previous year. EY’s total pre-tax profits also rose to £702m, up from £679m.

EY reported six per cent revenue growth for EY-Parthenon, its global strategy consulting arm, three per cent for tax services and three per cent for assurance. However, consulting revenues fell by three per cent. The firm said consumer & health and technology and media and telecommunications were its top-performing industry sectors, growing strongly by eight per cent and five per cent, respectively.

Despite shrinking consulting revenues, average partner profits jumped more than 10 per cent, from £787,000 to £870,000.

EY said it increased total employee bonuses by over 25 per cent, hired 2,300 people, made over 3,700 internal promotions and progressions, and delivered over 1.2m hours of training for its people in the UK.

The firm’s total UK tax contribution for the full year 2026 exceeded £1.3bn.

Anna Anthony, EY UK & Ireland regional managing partner, said: “These are a solid set of results in a challenging market. We’ve continued to grow the business, while making significant investments in talent and technology to support our future growth and deliver high quality and innovative services to our clients.”

Earlier this month, EY’s global results showed revenue hit $57bn (£43bn), up nearly five per cent from the previous financial year.

Big Four’s modest growth fuelled by tech

The firm said AI is booming, reporting a 46 per cent surge in sales of AI and data projects, showing that while corporates are slashing general advisory spend, they are ring-fencing budgets for generative AI transformation.

“As a sector that works with organisations across all parts of the economy, professional services play an important role in helping businesses to navigate change, unlock investment and embrace new technologies,” Anthony said.

EY’s growth rate puts the firm in step with its Big Four UK competitors. In January, KPMG UK reported revenue of £3.6bn for its year ended 30 September 2025. Deloitte UK’s revenue for the UK arm for the year ended 31 May 2026 was £5.81bn, with growth across all businesses. For the year ended 30 June 2026, PwC’s UK business’s revenue grew to £4.365bn.

But clients are buying differently at the Big Four. General consulting and advisory is in the red, with EY down three per cent, KPMG down three per cent, and PwC’s wider group down nearly 10 per cent. Growth has been driven by mandatory regulatory work, such as audit and tax, which are growing steadily across all four firms, and specialised AI/tech transformation.