The data appears in the August special edition of industry journal Inside Public Accounting, which analyzes the operations and management of the nation's largest accounting firms. (See Nation's Top Accounting Firms See 15 Percent Growth)

In its staff-compensation analysis, the report found that the average salary for professionals at IPA 100 firms is $74,266, a 5 percent increase over last year.

Based on years of experience, the average salaries among the top 100 firms increased between 3 percent and 6 percent. For instance, the salary for those with 0-2 years experience is $50,342, up 4.1 percent from last year. The salary for those with more than 10 years of experience is $122,084, up 5.9 percent from last year.

Average partner compensation has increased 50 percent since 2001 -- from $305,000 in 2001 to $461,272 in 2006-2007. Interestingly, during that same period, IPA 100 partner charge hours have actually dropped almost 8 percent, from an average of 1,187 per year in the beginning of the decade to 1,094 in 2006-2007.

A portion of the IPA special report, which lists the IPA 100 firm rankings, is available at http://www.plattgroupllc.com/top100_2007.pdf