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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.
A pandemic-prompted change in working practices has brought about only slight progress for women in senior leadership, according to Grant Thornton’s 2023 International Business Report (IBR) research into women in business in the global mid-market. Unless businesses develop cultures that empower people through flexible ways of working and take additional steps to support women into senior leadership positions, only 34% of senior leadership positions in mid-market businesses globally will be held by women in 2025.
While progress on the overall number of women in senior leadership continues, Grant Thornton’s latest research reveals it has been slow, increasing only half a percentage point to 32.4% in the past year, and only 13% since the research was first undertaken in 2003.
“The 30% threshold was seen as a ‘tipping point’ which would trigger an acceleration toward more gender balanced workplaces. Given the incremental change since mid-market businesses in our research reached 30%, it is clear we now need to inject greater determination to fully reap the benefits of diversity,
Says Karitha Ericson, global leader of network capability and culture. “The increasing emphasis on corporate responsibility and global standards is putting pressure on firms to form diverse leadership teams, and not doing so will make it more difficult to raise capital and attract investors.”
The research shows that many mid-market businesses have focused on succession planning to get more women into senior leadership positions, including implementing programmes for mentoring, coaching, leadership development, and wellbeing. Businesses should now focus their attention on developing more transparent pathways to leadership and more transparency across recruitment, promotions, and performance. “Clarity and equal opportunity regarding every aspect of leadership roles, from recruitment to performance reviews, is crucial,” says Karitha.
Additionally, a significant boost to the number of women in leadership roles will come from more businesses committing to flexible working and developing the right organisational culture to support it. Grant Thornton’s research has found that flexible, hybrid and home-based models have the highest levels of women in senior leadership roles. In mid-market businesses that have adopted a hybrid way of working, 34% of senior leaders are women, while in businesses that are fully flexible where staff choose how they work, it’s 36%. Just 29% of senior management is female in mid-market businesses with predominantly office-based models.
“With many businesses not embracing hybrid or flexible ways of working, women are being forced to consider part-time work, which could stifle their career progression,” says Karitha. “And businesses that don’t have flexible working practices tend to be less attractive workplaces to senior women.”
Amid a global skills shortage and talent crisis, businesses that adopt flexible working may also reap the benefits of improved cross-border working and access to a larger talent pool, such as people with disabilities, those living in geographically remote locations or those seeking better work/life balance.
However, flexible working is not without its challenges, says Karitha. “Businesses which already embraced this way of working thrived during the pandemic, as they were able to switch to remote working quickly. Crucially, these workplaces had the right culture to empower people to work in this way. Organisations which look to work more flexibly now, post-pandemic, must ensure they have the business culture to support it. This includes building workplace cultures that guard against potential pitfalls of hybrid working, such as women being left out of critical relationship building and decision-making.” Overall, the research found that men are more likely to say that their business encourages an open-door policy among management, while women say that this isn’t occurring as often.
Peter Bodin, CEO of GTIL notes that encouraging a diverse workforce at every level with a global focus on gender is a key focus of the Grant Thornton network strategy.
“Our commitment is to accelerate our progress in this area and to foster psychologically safe environments where everyone feels empowered to be their best," he says. “We know we must be intentional and decisive to push for parity, and other businesses must do the same to remain robust, resilient, and relevant in the ever-changing market.”
“Greater diversity is a positive for businesses – it demonstrates they are ethical and fair, it boosts business performance, and results in better outcomes and decisions. More diversity from across borders also encourages a growth mindset – bringing wider perspectives which can spark creativity and create a better way of doing things,” says Karitha. “And if you want to be an attractive employer to good talent, diversity is critical.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
International Business Report
The Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) is a survey of mid-market businesses. Launched in 1992, the IBR now provides insight into the views and expectations of more than 10,000 businesses across 28 economies.
Questionnaires are translated into local languages and fieldwork is undertaken on a biannual basis, through both online and telephone interviews. The data for this release is from interviews conducted in October to December 2022 with chief executive officers, managing directors, chairperson or other senior executives from all industry sectors.
More information: https://www.grantthornton.global/en/insights/articles/About-IBR/
Grant Thornton’s Women in Business report
For 19 years, Grant Thornton has cast a light on issues surrounding gender diversity in senior management among the world’s mid-market businesses, exposing barriers and identifying actions for change.
The 2023 report is available to read at grantthornton.global/women-in-business-2023.