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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.
In September 2015, the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) issued a memorandum circular covering the Philippine Financial Reporting Framework for Cooperatives (Reporting Framework). This Reporting Framework, which will only be effective for financial statements ending on December 31, 2016, is based largely (except for certain accounting treatments incorporated or revised by CDA which it deemed distinct and unique for cooperatives) on the Philippine Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (PFRS for SMES).
CDA is a regulatory agency entirely separate from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but it has similar functions; it has administrative and control oversight over all cooperatives in the country, while the SEC exercises this oversight over all stock and non-stock corporations.
Prior to the issuance of this Reporting Framework, CDA prescribed the Standard Chart of Accounts (SCA) for Cooperatives. The basic purpose in prescribing the SCA is to provide guidelines on the use of account titles for the preparation of financial statements to be used by all types of cooperatives. Thus, in the absence of more robust and detailed guidelines, the cooperatives turned to the PFRS issued by the Board of Accountancy (BOA) and the SEC. This situation created more confusion and lack of uniformity of financial reporting among cooperatives, as some follow the SCA while others prescribe to the PFRS or PFRS for SMEs. Consequently, their accountants and external auditors also took different positions relative to the adoption of the financial reporting and framework of their clients, resulting in inconsistent financial reporting among cooperatives.
Thus, this new Reporting Framework is a big step forward for CDA as it addresses the issue of uniformity of applications of financial reporting standards for the different types of cooperatives. To facilitate faster and wider adoption and to ensure compliance with the new Reporting Framework, the CDA has already conducted numerous seminars, mostly in c oordination with the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
CDA did not fully adopt all the provisions under PFRS or PFRS for SMEs since the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, following universally accepted cooperative principles, specifically provides for treatment of certain accounts, which are unique and peculiar to cooperatives.
For example, under CDA reporting framework, the interest income for cooperatives with lending operations is only recognized when earned and received during the period, which is different from the accrual method of PFRS. The reason for recognizing interest income only when earned and received is for the cooperatives to avoid declaring dividends (as required by CDA Law) out of interest that have not yet been collected. Another difference between the two reporting frameworks is the recognition of the effects of the prior period adjustments. Under the CDA reporting framework, the prior period adjustment should be taken up in the current year. PFRS provides for adjustment to the pertinent accounting year. The CDA reporting framework is practical in the sense that cooperatives may find it difficult to recover dividends that were already paid in prior years (assuming the prior period errors pertain to additional losses). Also, it is only the cooperatives that have to present in their financial statements the allocation of statutory reserves (also referred to as statutory funds) in the distribution of net surplus. Under CDA rules, all earnings during the period shall be returned to members as patronage refund for the loan availed of or allocated to various statutory accounts such as: (a) Reserved fund; (b) Education and training fund; (c) Community development Fund, and (d) Optional fund.
BOA, however, reproached CDA when it ran in Accounting Updates (philcpa.org) on September 30, 2015, an article entitled, “Is CDA publishing its own Financial Reporting Standards?” BOA maintains that it was not consulted in the promulgation of the CDA reporting framework and thus, it was not able to comment on and select which accounting standards the accountants and external auditors should use in reporting the transactions and in auditing the records of cooperatives.
It seems CDA has taken the position that it is a regulator that has a separate mandate from the SEC and BOA and cooperatives should adopt the new Reporting Framework. CDA, however, has to be alert as this Reporting Framework, which is based on PFRS for SMEs, has to be dynamic, flexible and active to be able to adjust to the amendments and developments in PFRS for SMEs.
Ramil Nañola is a Partner, Audit & Assurance of P&A Grant Thornton. P&A Grant Thornton is one of the leading Audit, Tax, Advisory, and Outsourcing firm in the Philippines, with 20 Partners and over 700 staff members.
As published in The Manila Times, dated 22 June 2016