National firm Irwin Mitchell increased amounts owed to creditors by almost 30% in the last financial year, group accounts have revealed.

A financial statement published at Companies House today confirmed amounts owed to creditors by the group rose from £75m in 2012 to £98m by April last year.

Around £4m of the increase was taken up by bank loans and overdrafts, an extra £7m was borrowed from trade creditors and other creditors accounted for £10m.

The increase came during a financial year in which the Irwin Mitchell Group, headquartered in Sheffield, was granted a series of five alternative business structure licences covering a range of its business operations.

The accounts also reveal that profit before tax and members’ remuneration rose by 12.5% from £39m to £44m on turnover up from £187m in 2012 to £192m in 2013.

Members’ remuneration charged as an expense rose from £14.8m to almost £20m. The group awarded a minimum of 25% of the profit, after deduction of members’ base profit share for the year, into a bonus pool that was allocated to members at the end of the financial year.

Accounts show the group cut staff numbers by 122 over the course of the year, including 29 fee-earners, to leave a total workforce of 1,922. This helped to reduce overall staff costs from £75m to £68m.

Since the results were submitted, Irwin Mitchell has confirmed the acquisition of PI and clinical negligence specialist MPH Solicitors and made clear its intention to grow further.