EY grew UK revenue by 2% to £3.86bn in its latest financial year, as strong demand for AI and data projects helped offset a tougher market backdrop.

The Big Four accountancy firm said sales of AI and data-related work jumped 46% year-on-year, on the back of growing demand from organisations looking to move beyond experimentation and use AI to improve productivity and transform operations.

Profitability also improved, with distributable profits before tax rising to £702m from £679m a year earlier. Average profit per partner increased more than 10% to £870,000.

The firm increased the value of employee bonuses by more than 25%, its largest variable pay pool to date, while average employee pay rose 5.2%.

Growth was led by EY-Parthenon, where revenues rose 6%, while tax and assurance both grew 3%. Consulting revenue slipped 3%. Consumer & Health and Technology, Media and Telecommunications were the strongest-performing sectors, growing 8% and 5% respectively.

Anna Anthony, 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.

“With economic uncertainty, technological transformation and shifting expectations of business reshaping every sector, I’m proud of the steps we’ve taken to position our firm for the future while continuing to deliver for our clients, people and the communities we operate in.”

The firm continued to invest heavily in technology and staff, recruiting 2,300 people, delivering 1.2 million hours of training and rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot across its UK workforce.

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