Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the professional services group, revealed a 5 per cent fall in global full-year revenue to $26.1 billion today as the world’s biggest accounting firms continue to feel the squeeze from the lack of big deals.

Jim Quigley, Deloitte’s chief executive, said that the big four firm was satisfied with its performance given the “exceptionally difficult environment” and that revenue for the year to May 31 actually grew by 1 per cent if currency variations were taken into account.

Deloitte declined to comment on its profitability.

Its revenue held up marginally better than that of rivals PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young, which both experienced a 7 per cent decline in global fee income last year, posting $26.2 billion and $21.4 billion respectively.

KPMG, the other member of the big four, has yet to release its 2008-09 financial results.

Deloitte received $11.9 billion in fees for auditing the accounts of companies such as General Motors and Microsoft, down 6.4 per cent from the previous year.

Its revenue from advising big companies and governments on tax-related matters also suffered as a result of the downturn, dropping 5.5 per cent to $5.7 billion.

However, its management consulting division bucked the downturn, raising fees by 2 per cent to $6.5 billion.

Deloitte was the only one of the big four to retain its consulting practice in the wake of the Enron scandal at the start of the decade; its rivals divested their consulting arms due to concerns over conflicts and a clash of cultures, but have since rebuilt them.

Deloitte - organised, like other big accounting firms, as a network of connected but legally distinct member firms - said it performed strongly in emerging markets, with its operations in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East recording double-digit growth in local currencies.

However, revenues in Europe and North America, its traditional strongholds, which account for more than 80 per cent of its business, were flat.

In August, Deloitte’s UK arm said that 2008-09 revenue fell 2 per cent to £1.97 billion, with partners’ profits down 7.5 per cent to an average of £883,000.

It trailed PwC, which increased UK revenue slightly to £2.25 billion.

Globally, Deloitte said that it had committed more than $1 billion to improving its audit processes and expanding its operations. It paid around $350 million to acquire the government advisory practice of BearingPoint, the US management consultancy that collapsed into bankruptcy this year.

Overall, headcount increased 4.5 per cent to 169,000.

Mr Quigley said: “Globalisation and the general pace of change continue to present both unprecedented opportunities and challenges for clients. With ongoing investments in new service delivery methods and improving processes ... I am confident that our member firms will be even better positioned.”

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