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Business consulting services
Our business consulting services can help you improve your operational performance and productivity, adding value throughout your growth life cycle.
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Business process solutions
We can help you identify, understand and manage potential risks to safeguard your business and comply with regulatory requirements.
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Business risk services
The relationship between a company and its auditor has changed. Organisations must understand and manage risk and seek an appropriate balance between risk and opportunities.
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Cybersecurity
As organisations become increasingly dependent on digital technology, the opportunities for cyber criminals continue to grow.
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Forensic and investigation services
At Grant Thornton, we have a wealth of knowledge in forensic services and can support you with issues such as dispute resolution, fraud and insurance claims.
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Mergers and acquisitions
Globalisation and company growth ambitions are driving an increase in M&A activity worldwide. We work with entrepreneurial businesses in the mid-market to help them assess the true commercial potential of their planned acquisition and understand how the purchase might serve their longer- term strategic goals.
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Recovery and reorganisation
Workable solutions to maximise your value and deliver sustainable recovery
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Transactional advisory services
We can support you throughout the transaction process – helping achieve the best possible outcome at the point of the transaction and in the longer term.
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Valuations
We provide a wide range of services to recovery and reorganisation professionals, companies and their stakeholders.
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IFRS
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of global accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) for the preparation of public company financial statements. At Grant Thornton, our IFRS advisers can help you navigate the complexity of financial reporting from IFRS 1 to IFRS 17 and IAS 1 to IAS 41.
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Audit quality monitoring
Having a robust process of quality control is one of the most effective ways to guarantee we deliver high-quality services to our clients.
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Global audit technology
We apply our global audit methodology through an integrated set of software tools known as the Voyager suite.
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Corporate and business tax
Our trusted teams can prepare corporate tax files and ruling requests, support you with deferrals, accounting procedures and legitimate tax benefits.
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Direct international tax
Our teams have in-depth knowledge of the relationship between domestic and international tax laws.
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Global mobility services
Through our global organisation of member firms, we support both companies and individuals, providing insightful solutions to minimise the tax burden for both parties.
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Indirect international tax
Using our finely tuned local knowledge, teams from our global organisation of member firms help you understand and comply with often complex and time-consuming regulations.
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Innovation and investment incentives
Dynamic businesses must continually innovate to maintain competitiveness, evolve and grow. Valuable tax reliefs are available to support innovative activities, irrespective of your tax profile.
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Private client services
Our solutions include dealing with emigration and tax mitigation on the income and capital growth of overseas assets.
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Transfer pricing
The laws surrounding transfer pricing are becoming ever more complex, as tax affairs of multinational companies are facing scrutiny from media, regulators and the public
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Tax policy
Tax policies are constantly evolving and there are a number of complex changes on the horizon that could significantly affect your business.
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Outsourcing Changes to the Outsourcing legislation, specifically when offshoringSignificant changes to the dynamic of the financial services sector in recent years have shifted the paradigms in how we work. The increased digitisation of the workforce, changes in business models, globalisation, and remote working capabilities have led to a new approach to the delivery of services.
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Asset management Inflation and tax planningThe recent onset of rapid inflation is an unwelcome development that is having a widespread impact on US businesses and tax planning.
The corporation tax debate needs resolution
I was interviewed on Wednesday morning by Bloomberg and BBC World, discussing our latest IBR results which reveal that the vast majority of business leaders would welcome more guidance on tax planning, even if this reduced their opportunities to cut cross-border tax liabilities.
The media is awash with stories on the tax planning activities of large corporates. In the US, Apple chief Tim Cook has had to answer some tough questions with regard to the levels of cash his company holds abroad. And in the UK, senior leaders from Amazon, Google and Starbucks have been hauled in front of a hostile government committee to explain why they pay relatively little corporation tax in the country.
What’s interesting to me is that these companies are not in any way being accused of breaking the law. The issue is not tax evasion – which is illegal – but tax avoidance – which is not. The debate has moved on to whether these companies ought to be paying more. It has become a question of morality.
This troubles me. Morality is a nebulous concept, certainly in the business world. Whose morality do we use as a base for deciding what constitutes a ‘fair share’? Yours? Mine? Businesses need things in black and white. They have a responsibility to their investors and shareholders to keep costs down. Simply telling them to pay their ‘fair share’ is not a viable alternative to a clear set of rules or principles.
Tax avoidance has become a measure of corporate social responsibility. A brand can suffer if the company’s tax planning is deemed too aggressive. And businesses are very aware that consumers can vote with their feet. There is no shortage of coffee houses in the UK and Starbucks have taken the unprecedented step of volunteering to pay more corporation tax this year and next in the face of a marked consumer backlash. But the amount they actually pay could end up being fairly arbitrary.
For me, it would be far better to address the tax system through international institutions such as the OECD and the UN, and via global groupings like the G20. Current tax planning rules are archaic. Businesses need guidelines for a modern, digital, internet-powered world and our survey shows they would be prepared to exchange deductions for greater clarity. We need to design a system that works globally. This will take time but simplifying and clarifying the tax code would be good for businesses, consumers and governments.
is global leader for tax services at Grant Thornton.