Nearly 3 in 10 adviser firms have an their average annual turnover of more than £1m, a study published this morning has suggested.

Some 26% of companies that responded to Aviva’s latest Adviser Barometer Survey reported that their turnover was in the seven figures bracket. This was an increase from May 2015 when the figure was 16%.

The proportion of firms with a turnover of less than £250k has fallen to 38%, down from 56% last May.

And 40% of firms reported they were planning to recruit more advisers in 2016, up from 32% in May.

The research showed 72% reporting that the pension reforms had a positive impact on their business, and only 6% said it had a negative impact.

Some 67% said that the pension freedoms were their biggest opportunity in the next 12 months. This was a slight increase from 63% in May 2015, when the reforms had just come into effect.

Many advisers have changed how they do business in response to the freedoms.

Some 44% said they have changed the tools that they use because of the reforms, and a further 14% plan to. But one in five advisers haven’t reviewed, or don’t plan to review, their due diligence in light of the reforms.

While the reforms have provided opportunities, they have also created new challenges for advisers. Two in five say there are scenarios they are reluctant to advise on. This includes defined benefit transfers and taking the whole pension fund as cash, particularly if it is a “younger” client or a “substantial amount”. Other advisers said they would turn away insistent clients, and new clients who want to take their pension as cash.

Tim Orton, chief executive at the Aviva Adviser Platform, said: “It’s been nine months since the pension freedoms came into force, which has gone extremely quickly for providers and advisers, who have implemented proposition and process changes in a short space of time.

“The freedoms created a massive opportunity, as consumers became truly engaged with their retirement options, but many recognise they don’t understand retirement products. The renewed need for financial advice is great for our market, but now we need to look at how we can make sure that financial advice is available to more people, and prevent the advice gap from widening”.

He said: “One of the big areas of change could be driven by the Financial Advice Market Review. It's crucial that the market, both providers and advisers, can get suitable information and advice to all customers with a need. As an industry we need to support advisers to operate profitably as part of providing choice to customers. Our findings show Professional Indemnity costs are a constant worry. It would be wrong if this limits advice provision and customers go unserved.”