It was another buoyant year for accountancy firms, with fee incomes growing at an annual rate of almost 18 per cent, according to Finance magazine's annual survey of accountancy firms.

A poll of 21 top accountancy firms shows that fee incomes stand at €903 million in 2006, compared with €766 million last year. But the rate of growth in fee income has slowed down on 2005, when fee incomes grew by 20 per cent.

The "big four" accountancy firms - KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Ernst & Young - have seen their share of total fee income fall from 75.7 per cent to 73.5 per cent.

The growth rate in fee income at the four companies, which earned €663 million out of the total €903 million, has fallen behind the rest of the sector, with average growth of 14.2 per cent.

Only KMPG, the top earning firm, recorded higher than average growth.

Its 20 per cent increase in fee income to €211 million meant it overtook PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was ranked second with fee income of €210 million, an increase of 16 per cent.

It was not such a good year for the third and fourth-placed firms. Deloitte grew its fee income by 10 per cent to €125 million, while Ernst & Young saw its fee income increase by just 6.4 per cent to €117 million. This means Deloitte has lengthened the gap between itself and Ernst & Young.

Meanwhile, acquisitions are driving growth among mid-tier firms, Finance comments.

The best performer in the last financial year was Moore Stephens, which saw its fee income almost double from €4.2 million to €7.9 million following the inclusion of Limerick-based firm McNamara and Associates in its network.

Farrell Grant Sparks also registered impressive growth last year, with its fee income leaping from €14.8 million to €26.8 million, following its merger with McClure Watters in Northern Ireland and Longford-based firm Lyons Keenan Kilemade.

The fastest mover in terms of organic growth was Grant Thornton, which grew its business by almost 43 per cent.