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Audit approach overview
Our audit approach will allow our client's accounting personnel to make the maximum contribution to the audit effort without compromising their ongoing responsibilities
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Annual and short period audit
At P&A Grant Thornton, we provide annual and short period financial statement audit services that go beyond the normal expectations of our clients. We believe strongly that our best work comes from combining outstanding technical expertise, knowledge and ability with exceptional client-focused service.
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Review engagement
A review involves limited investigation with a narrower scope than an audit, and is undertaken for the purpose of providing limited assurance that the management’s representations are in accordance with identified financial reporting standards. Our professionals recognize that in order to conduct a quality financial statement review, it is important to look beyond the accounting entries to the underlying activities and operations that give rise to them.
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Other Related Services
We make it a point to keep our clients abreast of the developments and updates relating to the growing complexities in the accounting world. We offer seminars and trainings on audit- and tax-related matters, such as updates on Accounting Standards, new pronouncements and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issuances, as well as other developments that affect our clients’ businesses.
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Tax advisory
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Tax compliance
We aim to minimize the impact of taxation, enabling you to maximize your potential savings and to expand your business.
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Corporate services
For clients that want to do business in the Philippines, we assist in determining the appropriate and tax-efficient operating business or investment vehicle and structure to address the objectives of the investor, as well as related incorporation issues.
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Tax education and advocacy
Our advocacy work focuses on clarifying the interpretation of laws and regulations, suggesting measures to increasingly ease tax compliance, and protecting taxpayer’s rights.
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Business risk services
Our business risk services cover a wide range of solutions that assist you in identifying, addressing and monitoring risks in your business. Such solutions include external quality assessments of your Internal Audit activities' conformance with standards as well as evaluating its readiness for such an external assessment.
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Business consulting services
Our business consulting services are aimed at addressing concerns in your operations, processes and systems. Using our extensive knowledge of various industries, we can take a close look at your business processes as we create solutions that can help you mitigate risks to meet your objectives, promote efficiency, and beef up controls.
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Transaction services
Transaction advisory includes all of our services specifically directed at assisting in investment, mergers and acquisitions, and financing transactions between and among businesses, lenders and governments. Such services include, among others, due diligence reviews, project feasibility studies, financial modelling, model audits and valuation.
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Forensic advisory
Our forensic advisory services include assessing your vulnerability to fraud and identifying fraud risk factors, and recommending practical solutions to eliminate the gaps. We also provide investigative services to detect and quantify fraud and corruption and to trace assets and data that may have been lost in a fraud event.
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Cyber advisory
Our focus is to help you identify and manage the cyber risks you might be facing within your organization. Our team can provide detailed, actionable insight that incorporates industry best practices and standards to strengthen your cybersecurity position and help you make informed decisions.
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ProActive Hotline
Providing support in preventing and detecting fraud by creating a safe and secure whistleblowing system to promote integrity and honesty in the organisation.
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Accounting services
At P&A Grant Thornton, we handle accounting services for several companies from a wide range of industries. Our approach is highly flexible. You may opt to outsource all your accounting functions, or pass on to us choice activities.
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Staff augmentation services
We offer Staff Augmentation services where our staff, under the direction and supervision of the company’s officers, perform accounting and accounting-related work.
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Payroll Processing
Payroll processing services are provided by P&A Grant Thornton Outsourcing Inc. More and more companies are beginning to realize the benefits of outsourcing their noncore activities, and the first to be outsourced is usually the payroll function. Payroll is easy to carve out from the rest of the business since it is usually independent of the other activities or functions within the Accounting Department.
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Grant Thornton prides itself on being a values-driven organisation and we have more than 38,500 people in over 130 countries who are passionately committed to these values.
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Our people tell us that our global culture is one of the biggest attractions of a career with Grant Thornton.
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Diversity
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Behind the Numbers: People of P&A Grant Thornton
Discover the inspiring stories of the individuals who make up our vibrant community. From seasoned veterans to fresh faces, the Purple Tribe is a diverse team united by a shared passion.
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P&A Grant Thornton offers something you can't find anywhere else. This is the opportunity to develop your ideas and thinking while having your efforts recognised from day one. We value the skills and knowledge you bring to Grant Thornton as an experienced professional and look forward to supporting you as you grow you career with our organisation.
Managing fraud risks toward recovery
13 Jan 2021The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a drastic increase in fraud in different organizations. According to the “ACFE Benchmarking Report: Fraud in the wake of Covid-19,” 79 percent of its respondents say they have seen an increase in fraud as of last November, and that this is expected to rise further in 2021.
The pandemic has affected business transactions in unprecedented ways, forcing organizations to change their processes — from interacting with consumers and supply-chain processes to increasing using technology and maintaining the well-being of their people. These rapid changes have shifted the focus to adapting to the new normal and sustaining the business. Many companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and redirect resources to overcome the crisis. The pandemic has also affected the lives of many people, leaving some unemployed or in financial distress. People are anxious about the uncertainty this pandemic caused.
These changes in the working environment could increase the risk of fraud in organizations and to individuals. As organizations scramble to alter processes, controls might be overlooked, which increases the opportunity for employees or outside parties to commit fraud. A chaotic work environment also increases an organization’s vulnerability to fraud.
The remote working setup limits oversight on use of the company’s assets and data that might result in a potential breach. As employees are pressured to achieve their targets or sustain their personal finances, these might drive them to misrepresent their respective organizations’ records to their advantage and override controls or even misappropriate assets. The heightened anxiety among people also makes individuals more vulnerable to fraudsters.
Fraudulent schemes during pandemic
Several schemes were seen to increase during the pandemic. As a result of the extensive use of technology, the frequency of phishing attacks is at an all-time high. These days, most transactions are done online, and these are being used by fraudsters by pretending to be a legitimate sender and inducing victims to provide personal information. Due to the need for financial support and insurance, loans and benefit schemes are also on the rise, through misrepresenting information and claiming benefits they are not entitled to. We have also seen an increase in seller scams, in which the merchant sells counterfeit or substandard items.
How do we respond
With fraud risks increasing, Grant Thornton Ireland listed some ways to minimize them and help organizations detect and prevent them. One is assigning an antifraud champion in your organization to oversee and be accountable for the implementation of antifraud programs during the pandemic. Another is to make sure core systems are updated. As organizations’ processes have changed, current systems might not be suitable to perform their function. Being proactive is also crucial to identifying threats specific to the organization and to new processes introduced or changed. Organizations can also leverage on the use of analytics, especially for big data. This will help organizations identify anomalies immediately, especially in times like this, when manpower is limited. Finally, it is important that these mechanisms are being monitored and iterated as the environment changes.
As we gradually recover from the pandemic, awareness of fraud risks and their impact would help organizations become prepared to handle them. The pandemic might not only increase the level of fraud in several organizations, but also reveal it before it could even begin.
To be prepared, whether there is a pandemic or not, organizations must have a fraud risk management program in place, one that is well-communicated, comprehensive and monitored timely, creating a control environment capable of minimizing risks and detecting threats . During this challenging time, it is important to look ahead on what we can still do. As author Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Gio Belchez is a managing consultant of the Advisory Services Division of P&A Grant Thornton. P&A Grant Thornton is one of the leading audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing firms in the Philippines with 24 Partners and more than 900 staff members. We’d like to hear from you! Tweet us: @GrantThorntonPH, “like” us on Facebook: P&A Grant Thornton, and email your comments to gio.belchez@ph.gt.com or pagrantthornton@ph.gt.com. For more information, visit www.grantthornton.com.ph.
As published in The Manila Times, dated 13 January 2021