The figures represent the tenth straight year of annual income growth, and were achieved thanks to strong performances across a number of service streams.

Buoyed by new client wins within the public and private markets, in the financial year to 30 June 2007, Grant Thornton's audit and assurance practice recorded a 12% increase in fee income, with tax services growing at 17%.

Grant Thornton's corporate finance business, meanwhile, benefited from an upturn in M&A activity which helped deliver growth of 28%.

Michael Cleary, CEO, Grant Thornton UK LLP announced that:

"Grant Thornton is going from strength to strength. An income growth of 14% in our last financial year and the recent merger with RSM Robson Rhodes have propelled the firm into a different league, thanks to our greater resource, deeper expertise and enhanced credibility."

"The merger of Grant Thornton and Robson Rhodes has created a firm which is the adviser of choice on AIM, a leading player in the mid-market and the provider of non audit services to one in four of the FTSE 100. We are already providing a stronger alternative proposition within the market and the deeper integration of our people can only fuel opportunity and success," he continued.

"The market is no longer content with firms, however competent within national borders, that are unable to access a strong and cohesive international network. Grant Thornton International provides this strength in depth across 113 countries and a level of cohesiveness that I believe is unmatched outside of the Big 4. Just in the past few months, beyond the UK, expansion activities have been undertaken by member firms in India, China, Japan, Russia and parts of South America, with a new member firm joining in Spain."

"To thrive we need to present our clients with an ever improved offering of local knowledge and global access which will boost our business and also allow us to break down those misplaced institutional perceptions that have stopped us from being seen as a real option within the larger listed company audit market."

He concluded:

"We remain committed to building a GBP1/2billion turnover business by 2010 that is synonymous with excellence in our profession. We will achieve this through fostering the development of our people, investing in and developing the firm's capabilities, both in the UK and internationally and growing the firm's reputation to an even greater level."