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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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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.
As the famous saying by Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker goes, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” True enough, the world never ceases to invent and reinvent itself with hopes for at least a slightly better and more convenient foreseeable future. Humanity’s hunger for innovation led the civilization of sand and stone to develop into one of flame and steel. Comparatively, businesses evolved from mere trading of valuable goods by traveling miles to find the perfect equivalent to the current day and age where two business parties can interact while being oceans apart. With the development of digital mediums and platforms, businesses have thrived by capitalizing on opportunities outside of physical restrictions. As we move into a more digital era, laws are understandably followed to ensure that businesses do not bypass the implemented rules. In the Philippines, an example of this is the proposed Senate Bill (SB) No. 2528, which aims to impose Value-Added Tax (VAT) on digital services.
In the last week of June 2024, the bicameral conference committee approved the latest and joint version of the bill, which mainly proposes the imposition of VAT on non-resident service providers. As a refresher, the salient features of the bill are highlighted below.
What are digital services?
As VAT is normally imposed on the usual sale of goods and services made in the course of business trade, it is proposed to be imposed on digital services by adding a provision in Section 105 of the Tax Code explicitly stating that persons rendering digital services are included among the persons liable to VAT. The term “digital services” refers to any service that is supplied over the internet or other electronic network with the use of information technology and where the supply of the service is essentially automated. The bill also enumerated a non-exhaustive list inclusion of digital services, as follows:
- Online search engine;
- Online Marketplace or E-Marketplace
- Cloud Service;
- Online Media and Advertising;
- Online Platform; or
- Digital Goods.
What are the liabilities of a non-resident digital service provider (DSP)?
As the proposed bill aims to regulate and monitor the flow of wealth in transactions with non-residents, it proposes two alternatives to ensure that the VAT due on the digital services consumed in the Philippines is paid, depending on the registration of both the provider and consumer of digital goods:
- If the non-resident DSP provides services to VAT-registered consumers, the consumers shall be liable to withhold and remit to the BIR within 10 days following the end of the month in which the withholding was made;
- On the contrary, if a non-resident DSP, required to be VAT-registered, provides services to non-VAT registered consumers, the former shall be liable to remit the VAT on the digital services that are consumed in the Philippines.
Moreover, should a VAT-registered non-resident DSP be classified as an online marketplace or e-marketplace, it shall also be liable to remit the VAT on transactions of non-resident sellers that go through its platform. Provided that it controls key aspects of the supply, and performs any of the following:
a) It sets, either directly or indirectly, any of the terms and conditions under which the supply of goods is made; or
b) It is involved in the ordering or delivery of the goods, whether directly or indirectly.
As the liability to remit the VAT shifts between the service provider and the consumer, should this bill be put into law, both parties will have to seek additional information from one another to ensure that the proper party liable for the VAT properly reports and remits the taxes.
What are the mandatory invoicing requirements?
Aside from the hardcopy invoice allowed as substantiation, the bill allows the use of digital sales or commercial invoices for digital service transactions made by a VAT-registered non-resident DSP under Section 113 of the Tax Code. Such a digital invoice shall be valid as long as the following information is contained under Section 113:
- Date of the Transaction;
- Transaction Reference Number;
- Identification of the Consumer;
- Brief Description of the Transaction;
- The total amount, with the indication that such an amount includes the value-added tax; and
- If the sale of digital services includes some services that are subject to VAT and some that are VAT-zero-rated or VAT-exempt, the invoice or receipt shall clearly indicate the breakdown of the sale price between the taxable, exempt, zero-rated, and components subject to VAT. Provided, that the calculation of the VAT on each portion of the sale shall be shown on the invoice.
What are the consequences of non-compliance?
The bill expands the BIR Commissioner’s power to suspend businesses by including the blocking of digital services provided to the Philippines by a DSP. The blocking of services shall be done by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) through the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). This ensures full compliance of DSPs with the tax rules on digital service transactions.
What to expect?
While the bill awaits approval, the constant collaboration between the Senate and Congress regarding the taxation of digital services is a testament to their commitment to ensuring proper rules and regulations for these new forms of transactions. Businesses are already contemplating the potential impact of these taxes on future dealings, with some arguing that the additional financial burden may deter investors from engaging with Philippine companies.
Conversely, lawmakers are taking decisive action to level the playing field. Local service providers currently face income tax and VAT, while foreign digital service providers have enjoyed untaxed access to the Philippine market. This disparity is being addressed to ensure fair competition. Notably, our lawmakers, in conjunction with the BIR, have shown a greater willingness to engage with the business sector, valuing professional insights and opinions.
As we anticipate the final version of the bill, it is crucial to ensure that the BIR provides clear, actionable rules and regulations for its implementation. These guidelines should align with the initiatives of Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Paying Taxes, ultimately creating a more equitable and thriving business landscape in the Philippines.
As published in Mindanao Times, dated 21 July 2024