How to use this chart

This chart can be used to display the progress of the UK’s Top 50 accounting firms, starting in 1998. The data it shows is drawn from the annual Accountancy Age Top 50 + 50 survey.

Our Top 50 chart uses Flash software – if you cannot see the chart or it won’t seem to finish loading, you may need to update your Flash plug-in. Note that Apple’s iPad does not support Flash software.

Click the Play button at the bottom left of the chart to launch the animation, or drag the time cursor left and right to see the state of the chart for a particular year. The control immediately to the right of the Play button controls playback speed.

To focus on a particular company or companies, select each by clicking on its bubble, or by ticking the appropriate boxes in the text list to the right of the chart.

Moving your cursor to hover over a bubble will reveal the name of the firm, and boxes will appear on the axes of the chart revealing precise numbers against the chosen scales. The exact size of each bubble will also be revealed in the options area on the right.

You can choose to view the chart’s data in various ways. Choose what to plot on the X and Y axes, choose whether to use a logarithmic or linear scale, and select what to display via the colours and sizes of the bubbles.

Finally, you can also view the same data as an animated bar chart or a static line graph by selecting from the three tabs at the top right of the chart box.