Australia's largest superannuation fund, with more than $120 billion under management, has returned double digit returns for balanced account members.

After taxes and fees, the investment option returned 12.44% for the 2016-17 financial year. According to AustralianSuper, this figure represents the fourth year out of five with double digit returns, and the eighth consecutive year of positive returns since the Global Financial Crisis.

About 90% of AustralianSuper members invest their retirement savings in the Balanced option.

Deputy chief executive and chief investment officer, Mark Delaney, said the strong result came about as all asset classes produced positive returns for the fund.

"The return to above-average performance reflects the improving global economy, particularly in China and the US. Investment markets have been resilient in the face of greater political uncertainty," Delaney said.

"It's a great result for our more than 2.2 million members and it shows the benefit of active management as well as our program to internalise the management of our assets."

Delaney added that about $26 billion, or about 22% of the fund's assets are now managed internally and he expected this to increase in coming years.

"The internal team is outperforming external managers by about $100 million annually and will deliver further cost savings to members," Delaney said.

"Internal management will help us to reduce costs, give the fund the ability to be more agile in the way we invest and enable us to continue to invest in high quality assets."

While the result was pleasing, Delaney encouraged members to focused on longer term returns and be aware that fluctuations can be expected as global economic growth remains subdued.

A full listing of superannuation fund performance results to May 2017 can be found on the Rainmaker SelectingSuper website.