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Brexit Advisory
Our Brexit Advisory team offer insight and guidance surrounding impacts and opportunities that Brexit has created for organisations.
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Corporate Finance
We offer a dedicated team of experienced individuals with a focus on successfully executing transactions for corporates and financial institutions. We offer an integrated approach, with our corporate finance specialists working seamlessly with tax and other specialists to ensure that every angle is covered.
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Digital risk
Grant Thornton offers solutions to the digital risk issues you are sure to face. Our skilled and experienced security team can helping by advising and consulting, giving you peace of mind, clear value for money and an enhanced ability to react to attacks.
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Economic Advisory
Our all-island Economics Advisory team combines expertise in economics and business with a wealth of experience across the public and private sectors.
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eDiscovery
Grant Thornton are the leading provider of eDiscovery services in the country and have been for years. Our incident response team managed the electronic discovery in the largest eDiscovery in Irish history.
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Forensic Accounting
We have a different way of doing business by delivering real insight through a combination of technical rigour, commercial experience and intuitive judgment. We take pride in delivering responsive and tailored solutions to all our clients, capitalising on the wealth of experience housed within our Belfast and wider Forensics team
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People and Change Consulting
The Grant Thornton People & Change Consulting practice works with clients on these issues as well as on all aspects of how they attract, retain, engage develop, deploy and lead their people.
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Restructuring
We work with a wide variety of clients and stakeholders such as high street banks, private equity funds, directors, government agencies and creditors to implement solutions which provide the best possible outcomes.
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Corporate and International tax
Northern Ireland businesses face further challenges as they operate in the only part of the UK that has a land border with a country offering a lower tax rate.
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Employer solutions
Our team specialises in remuneration and incentive planning and works closely with employers, shareholders and employees to ensure that business strategies are aligned and goals achieved in the most tax efficient, cost-effective manner.
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Entrepreneur and private client taxes
Our team of experienced advisors are on hand to guide you through any decision or transaction ranging from the establishment of new business ventures, to realising value on exit, to succession planning and providing for loved ones.
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Global Mobility Services
Grant Thornton offer a different approach to managing global mobility. We have brought together specialists from our tax, global payroll, people and change and financial accounting teams across Ireland and Northern Ireland, while drawing on the knowledge and insights of our global network of over 143 offices of mobility professionals to provide you with a holistic approach to managing global mobility.
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Outsourced Payroll
Our outsourced service provides valued service to over 150 separate PAYE schemes. These ranging from 1 to 1000 employees, working for micro, SME and global employers. The service is supported by the integrated network of tax and global mobility teams and the wider Grant Thornton network delivering a seamless service. Experienced staff deliver a personal service built around your business needs.
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Tax Disputes and Investigations
Our Tax Disputes and Investigation team is made up of tax experts and former HMRC investigators who have years of experience in dealing with a variety of tax investigations. Our expertise and insight can guide you through all interactions, keeping your cost at a minimum while allowing you to continue with the day to day running of your business.
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VAT and Indirect taxes
At Grant Thornton (NI) LLP, our team helps Northern Ireland businesses manage their UK and global indirect tax risks which, as transactional taxes, can quickly become big liabilities.
Foreword
Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) has been casting a light on the issue of gender diversity in senior management at mid-market businesses for 19 years, exposing barriers and identifying facilitators of change.
While progress on the overall number of women in senior leadership continues, this year’s research shows it is concerningly slow.
On a global level, 32.4% of senior management positions in midmarket businesses are now held by women, an increase of just half a percentage point (pp) since 2022 and only 13pp since our research was first undertaken in 2004. At this rate just 34% of senior leadership positions will be held by women in 2025.
According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap report, it will take another 132 years to address the global gender gap.1
Our research suggests that mid-market businesses must push for parity, and quickly. Intentional action from businesses is needed to accelerate progress.
Our research identifies a number of factors which could support this acceleration. Firstly, more women now hold the most senior positions than ever before – 28% of mid-market businesses now have a female chief executive officer (CEO) or managing director (MD), up from 15% in 2019. This trend is likely to lead to new diversity strategies, focused on increasing diversity at a senior management level and taking more businesses towards gender parity.
Secondly, external pressures around Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors demand the creation of new strategies, including a determined push towards more women in senior leadership. The establishment of global ESG standards and regulation is putting pressure on firms to form diverse leadership teams. Struggle to demonstrate diversity and a company may struggle to raise capital.2
Perhaps the most significant boost to achieving gender parity could come from a continued commitment from businesses to provide flexible working. This year’s IBR research shows that businesses which offer hybrid, flexible or home working outperform when it comes to women in senior management.
The more flexible the workplace, the more we see women getting into senior leadership. While some C-suite voices at this year’s WEF event in Davos called for the need to return to the office, caution is needed. Office-based businesses have the lowest percentage of women in senior management.3
Flexible working is not without its challenges. Organisations must ensure they have a culture which supports and facilitates flexible working. The risk is businesses slide back into pre-pandemic habits – an intentional commitment to flexible working could help avoid this.
Sinead Donovan comments on the findings outlined in this year's Grant Thornton Women in Business report.
“It’s hugely positive to see that Irish businesses are actively placing value on diversity and inclusion not just amongst their staff but also amongst their leadership teams. 10% is a significant yearly increase, especially when compared to the picture globally, where progress has unfortunately been much slower.
While this is a positive step for Ireland, it's clear there is still a lot of work to be done in order to narrow the playing field between men and women even further. Research shows that greater diversity in the workplace doesn’t just benefit the individuals, it also benefits business.
At Grant Thornton we are constantly looking for ways to do business better and having a diverse workforce where every person is awarded equal opportunity regardless of their gender is one important way of doing that.
In Ireland, Venture Capital or private equity houses now insist on diversity in terms of board make-up. We are also seeing increasing pressure from clients and investors, which will push mid-market businesses to introduce measures that increase the percentage of female senior managers. I expect this will be the case across the European Union and North America, given the particular focus on ESG reporting in these regions.”
Sinead Donovan, Grant Thornton Ireland Chairperson
1 www.weforum.org - It will take another 136 years to close the global gender gap, 12 April 2021
2 msci.com - ESG and climate risks and opportunities
3 www.thetimes.co.uk - Working from home is under threat — from employers
