STAFF at one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms hit the jackpot yesterday as a bumper Christmas bonus was announced.

KPMG will pay its 8,950 UK staff a total bonus of £59m compared with £35m last year.

It comes on the back of soaring revenues which were up 20 per cent to £1.28bn for the 12 months to the end of September.

KPMG chief executive John Griffith-Jones said: "We have had a very successful year and are delighted to reward our people with record levels of bonus payments."

KPMG is the latest firm to benefit from an increase in red tape as companies prepare for new accounting regulations - the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation in the US.

The firm said 93 per cent of companies in the FTSE 100 Index had been clients during the year, which saw its market share grow among the so-called big four - KPMG, Ernst and Young, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Deloitte and Touche.

Ernst and Young has already reported a 15 per cent increase in fees to a record £954m, while PwC posted a 12 per cent hike to £1.78bn.

Mr Griffith-Jones said: "We are delighted to report growth of 20 per cent, which makes KPMG the fastest growing big four firm in the UK in 2005."

Global revenues rose 16.4 per cent to $15.65bn (£8.86bn).

The firm has nearly 94,000 staff in 717 cities covering 148 countries. A total of 29 partners and 88 directors were appointed in the UK last year.