Annual results published on Monday from Britain’s biggest accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), showed a record fee income in the UK of £2.25 billion amid the financial crisis.

PwC’s role as administrator of the European arm of Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank that collapsed spectacularly almost a year ago, alone generated about £100 million in fees for the year to June 30.

The firm received £811 million for work across its various practices carried out for financial institutions, including Barclays and Lloyds TSB, as the surge in restructurings and growth in its consultancy practice boosted overall performance by nearly 1 per cent.

Although revenues from audit and tax work fell, this was offset by a 5 per cent rise to £737 million in fees from advisory practices, thanks largely to a 10% jump in consulting demand. The Kennedy Report ranks the firm at No.1 overall in the business consulting market.

This year PwC acquired Sustainable Finance, an environmental consultancy run by Leo Johnson, brother of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, and said that it planned to rebuild its management consulting arm by trebling revenue to £1.3 billion in the next four years, less than a decade after selling its consulting arm to IBM.

PwC held its place as Britain’s top professional services firm by revenue and headcount, extending its lead over Deloitte, its closest rival. The firm is one of the private sector’s biggest graduate recruiters and last year took on 1,000 university-leavers.

Ian Powell, PwC’s UK chairman and senior partner, said: “It was a tough year for our clients and ourselves, but we’ve delivered a good, solid set of results given the backdrop.

“I believe our strategy of staying close to clients through the downturn, offering them good value and great service has played a key part in our performance over the past year. The largest multi-national companies remain a key market sector but we are also making real progress with mid-tier companies, non-governmental organisations and the public sector.

“The outlook in the UK remains uncertain in an environment where consumer confidence remains fragile and business investment slow. Business and government need to work hard to ensure that the attractiveness of the UK is maintained. As a firm we will continue to make long-term investments and do the right thing for our people, our business and the wider community to ensure that we have the balance of skills and resources to support our clients as we move out of the downturn.”