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Corporate Finance and Deal Advisory
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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Technology Consulting
Motivating and assisting our clients to pursue, maintain and secure the benefits of digital solutions is at the core of our Digital Transformation teams' agenda and goals. We work with business leaders to deliver efficient digital strategies and operating models that provide new or enhanced capabilities.
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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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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.
Bringing finance into the digital age
23 Feb 2021While the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccination is well underway, a return to the office and pre-pandemic life still feels like a distant dream for many.
The pandemic has shone the light on the need for businesses to keep up to date with advances in technology, with remote working, Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams have all becoming ‘the new normal’. In these uncertain times, we all have a responsibility to be thinking about what is likely to happen, and to prepare for it. In the finance function, that means working now to get the right people and technology - it is time for the finance function to embrace digitalisation!
Digitalisation of the finance function is separated in to two main components; those of providing insight with real time, data-enabled decision support, and those improving processes and reducing risk.
Insight can be provided via Advanced Analytics software, which assists in collecting, cleaning and analysing the raw data contained within the existing finance system, to provide businesses with enhanced meaningful information, used to accelerate decision support and uncover hidden growth opportunities.
An example of a technology that can improve a business process while reducing risk is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This is the technology allowing computer software ‘known as a bot’ to emulate and integrate the actions of a human within digital systems. The bot can perform repetitive tasks quickly, efficiently, 24 hours a day and without error, whilst also costing less than an employee.
Digitalisation of the finance function will be an evolving process as new technologies emerge and create better solutions to manage the challenges of today’s fast-changing business environment. It can transform the finance function, add value to the business, whilst improving efficiency and reducing risk.
For example, embracing digitalisation will result in more offices going ‘paperless’, reducing their carbon footprint and making the business as a whole more sustainable. A paperless system also provides greater security around GDPR regulations. With regards to improving efficiencies, we are seeing new technologies being used to take the raw output financial data and complete month end routines in a matter of hours, rather than days as previously was the case.
Complete digital transformation within a business can be complex, time consuming and expensive. Additionally, the ever-changing technologies and arrival of new solutions make it difficult for businesses to know where to start. Before embarking on this process, it is important for business owners and finance staff to proactively and systematically identify tasks and processes within their finance function that would benefit from digitalisation. Once these areas are identified, investment in the relevant technologies and capabilities can begin.
Communication of this digitalisation process is key, as it will involve staff facing new challenges; including learning how to use new software, new processes, and understanding the potential impacts on their role. There is often a ‘fear factor’ of automation replacing people’s jobs. Our experience is this isn’t the case, the technology acts as a complementary tool allowing people to focus on more ‘value add’ activities in which they excel whilst the software takes on the mundane.
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