Fees increased for the Big4 during 2010, but they have reported a three per cent decline in the amount they collected from FTSE 100 clients, new research shows.

In 2009-10 financial year, FTSE 100 companies paid £891.9m in both audit and non-audit fees, a drop from the previous year when clients paid £857m for accountancy services. This was despite a 3.7 per cent hike in auditing fees across the big accounting firms.

KPMG and Ernst & Young (E&Y) took the hit with falls in revenue around 4% but rivals PwC and Deloitte bucked the trend, reporting a rise in auditing income.