Deloitte reports record 2011 revenue of $28.8 bln

By Dena Aubin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd, the world's largest accounting and consulting firm, said global revenue rose the most in three years in fiscal year 2011, helped by double-digit gains in advisory and consulting work.

Deloitte's member firms worldwide reported a record $28.8 billion in revenue, up 8.4 percent from 2010. In local currency terms, not accounting for fluctuations in the value of the dollar, revenue grew 7.7 percent for the fiscal year that ended May 31, 2011.

Deloitte will likely post similar growth in fiscal 2012, despite a challenging economic picture, the firm's global chief executive, Barry Salzberg, said on Thursday.

"Our first quarter (fiscal 2012) results are very much in line with what we've achieved in the prior year," Salzberg said in an interview.

Deloitte also said it plans to boost its workforce 37 percent to 250,000 by fiscal year 2015, up from 182,000 now.

The Asia-Pacific region was the fastest-growing area for a seventh straight year, with revenue growth of more than 25 percent at member firms in Australia and India, Deloitte said.

Deloitte's growth came in a year when the global services sector posted an uneven rebound from a 2008-2009 slump. Deloitte's results may bode well for the other "Big Four" global accounting and consulting firms -- Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC -- expected to report revenues in the coming months.

Financial advisory work led Deloitte's revenue growth, with a 15.1 percent rise, followed by a 14.9 percent jump in consulting revenue. Revenue from tax services grew 5.2 percent, while audit and enterprise risk services rose 4.7 percent.

(Reporting by Dena Aubin; editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz)