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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
With our knowledge of tax laws and audit procedures, we help safeguard the substantive and procedural rights of taxpayers and prevent unwarranted assessments.
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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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Our values
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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Global culture
Our people tell us that our global culture is one of the biggest attractions of a career with Grant Thornton.
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Learning & development
At Grant Thornton we believe learning and development opportunities allow you to perform at your best every day. And when you are at your best, we are the best at serving our clients
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Global talent mobility
One of the biggest attractions of a career with Grant Thornton is the opportunity to work on cross-border projects all over the world.
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Diversity
Diversity helps us meet the demands of a changing world. We value the fact that our people come from all walks of life and that this diversity of experience and perspective makes our organisation stronger as a result.
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In the community
Many Grant Thornton member firms provide a range of inspirational and generous services to the communities they serve.
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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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Fresh Graduates
Fresh Graduates
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Students
Whether you are starting your career as a graduate or school leaver, P&A Grant Thornton can give you a flying start. We are ambitious. Take the fact that we’re the world’s fastest-growing global accountancy organisation. For our people, that means access to a global organisation and the chance to collaborate with more than 40,000 colleagues around the world. And potentially work in different countries and experience other cultures.
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Experienced hires
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.
The evolution of corporate governance
02 Dec 2020During this unprecedented time, a credible board that balances providing support to management while challenging it to make the best decisions is a necessity. As there is no sufficient historical experience that management can readily draw upon that can help it navigate current conditions, the board’s capabilities would especially shine through during this challenging time.
At the University of the Philippines, student organizations relied on senior advisors to guide their major decisions. They choose their advisors by determining which members of the faculty best suit their mission, vision and goals. The same is true for companies, as the designated board members are usually made up of internal or external experts of the industry they are in, or are major shareholders or owners. Board members should represent the company as a whole, as well as the interests of shareholders. The major decisions to be made regarding the company falls on the board’s shoulders, which requires its utmost skills and expertise and thorough, well-informed judgement.
As the pandemic persists, further affecting the current business landscape, company management and boards are expected to stretch their skills in ways they didn’t before.
Over the past six months, Grant Thornton had dozens of conversations with corporate directors to help understand how the pandemic is influencing business leaders’ responsibilities when it comes to governance.
What caused the change?
The diversity and competition in the marketplace are challenging the traditional definition of the composition of an industry. This requires the management and boards to change. The following are the drivers of change that Grant Thornton determined, based on conversations with business leaders from different industries:
– 2020 has created even more pressure on management and directors, although before this year, there are already concerns raised on the rise of ESG (environmental, social and governance), shareholder primacy and developing technology. These concerns zoomed into the changes in the experience, priorities and diversity necessary for an effective and efficient board.
– The tasks assigned to the director is becoming more operationally demanding. As crises need to be solved, directors are expected to be even more engaged with their teams.
Constant communication and meetings with management must be scheduled in order to immediately formulate solutions to the latest issues. Compared to before, boards now prefer to hold weekly meetings in order to stay connected to management. This is done so that risks can be constantly identified, addressed and dealt with immediately.
– Another factor that caused boards to change is scrutiny on the board’s composition. The board members Grant Thornton has spoken to question the significance of experience in general management, finance or industry as key criteria when selecting board members. One director pointed out that there is already an abundance of knowledge of management and finance in a typical board across industries, raising the need to be more open in searching in new places for different kinds of talent.
How evolution can take place
Nowadays, “digital” has become synonymous with “transformation.” As technology advances by leaps and bounds, it is necessary for company boards to catch up with it. In Grant Thornton’s roundtables with directors, a common conclusion was determined: the issues businesses and boards are facing have not only exposed gaps in the business, but also gaps in the board. These gaps have already been noticed, but the events of 2020 have highlighted how these are widening.
The first gap is the board’s relationship with company management. On the topic of being heavily involved in the endeavors of their respective companies, governance was first seen to involve “nose in; fingers out” responsibilities. Directors have pointed out that this philosophy should remain unchanged, as the board should not go as far as to micromanage. Instead, it was concluded that the board should take the responsibility to dig deeper, especially during these turbulent times.
As for board composition, diversity is already being addressed by many business publications, but there is little action or solutions from companies. First, the availability of virtual platforms to recruit people from different parts of the globe can help companies practice diversity in gender, ethnicity and age. Second, many boards are already using external, advisory subcommittees with various skills to combat the challenge of an evolving board and improve their expertise. And last, boards are already requiring directors to get training in order to expand their knowledge.
In terms of board operations, boards are harvesting insights learned from the pandemic.
The norm has been leveraging subcommittees to address the workload and matters requiring specialized expertise, but the current landscape has determined the need for it even more. Shorter and more frequent board meetings are also being tested on whether they provide for newer topics to be included in agendas. With the many virtual platforms available that allow for collaboration, voting and breakout sessions, board meetings should become more efficient.
Governance in the future
The pandemic and ongoing social tensions in 2020 have drastically emphasized the evolution in board composition and operations that the digital wave has already exposed — from the collaboration between the board and management and who makes up the board to how the members choose to work and the ways and traditions of the past should allow for quicker and more experienced methodologies. Governance must continue to evolve simultaneously with the entity it governs.
Anton Ng is a partner of the Audit and Assurance 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 anton.ng@ph.gt.com or pagrantthornton@ph.gt.com. For more information, visit www.grantthornton.com.ph.
As published in The Manila Times, dated 02 December 2020