International awards fuel Grant Thornton’s growth

For Immediate Release
 
May 4, 2009
 
International awards fuel Grant Thornton’s growth ambitions

New Zealand accounting firm Grant Thornton has had its ambitious growth plans boosted by the recently released United States annual audit rankings which has named Grant Thornton as the No. 1 ranked audit firm in that country.
 
Chris Dixon, National Audit Director for Grant Thornton New Zealand, said that this international ranking reinforced the audit methodology used by Grant Thornton in New Zealand.
 
“We follow the same practices as those of Grant Thornton in the United States and the rest of the world, except where we tailor our methodology to reflect New Zealand’s legal and reporting requirements,” he said.
 
The rankings were based on measuring audit wins and losses by the major global accounting networks in the United States throughout the year. Five audit engagement wins for companies each with $US1 billion annual revenue and 24 successful competitive pitches against Big Four firms gave Grant Thornton the top spot.
 
Dixon said that over the last year in New Zealand Grant Thornton was being asked to tender for more of the larger audits, normally the prerogative of the ‘Big Four.”
 
“Increasingly we are finding that more directors are weighing up their audit needs against the cost of those services while still having full confidence in the quality of the delivery. Our ambitions are not to be the biggest audit firm in the country but to be in a category of one in providing the only viable alternative to the bigger firms.
 
“We are one of the few international accounting firms that follow the same audit methodology in every country. Therefore, awards such as the Public Accounting Report’s annual rankings are extremely important to us.
 
“This U.S. award also reinforces the fact that in the United Kingdom Grant Thornton is the No. 1 audit firm for companies listed on the AIM (the London Stock Exchange’s international market for smaller growing companies) with over 200 of these companies on the firm’s books – more than any other audit firm.
 
“With our internationally proven audit methodology, our aim is to have companies on our books of a similar standing with those of Grant Thornton in the rest of the world,” he said.
 
Grant Thornton is one of New Zealand’s leading independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms, providing audit, tax, business advisory and specialist advisory services to privately held businesses and public interest entities. Grant Thornton operates in over 100 countries worldwide.

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