-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Tax compliance
We aim to minimize the impact of taxation, enabling you to maximize your potential savings and to expand your business.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Global culture
Our people tell us that our global culture is one of the biggest attractions of a career with Grant Thornton.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
In the community
Many Grant Thornton member firms provide a range of inspirational and generous services to the communities they serve.
-
Fresh Graduates
Fresh Graduates
-
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.
-
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.
My employed friend recently requested me to compute her annual income tax due for the prior year 2017. Her gross compensation from her lone employer was less than P250,000. I arrived at her annual income tax due after deducting the taxes withheld by her employer. I told her then that, if she receives the same amount of compensation this year, there will be no more withholding tax and annual income tax due. To my surprise, her employer continuously withheld tax on her January and February 2018 salary, even if she has been receiving the same monthly salary since last year. This was despite the passage and effectivity of the TRAIN Law effective Jan. 1, 2018 and notwithstanding the other pertinent issuances by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) early this year. Her employer explained that their reason for the continuous withholding was that they were still waiting for the BIR’s specific guidelines on implementing the new compensation tax rule in the TRAIN law.
As invalid as the excuse might be, my friend and others in a similar situation could now be thankful that the BIR has published Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2018, which implements the new compensation tax provisions, among other provisions, of the TRAIN Law.
RR No. 11-2018 does not only reiterate that those receiving an income of not more than P250,000 in a taxable year, beginning Jan. 1, are exempt from income tax, and consequently to withholding tax, it also provides guidelines for other employment-related taxes. Some of the salient provisions are described below.
1. EXEMPTION OF MINIMUM WAGE EARNERS FROM WITHHOLDING TAX
For minimum wage earners (MWE), holiday pay, overtime pay, night differential pay, and hazard pay earned by an MWE shall, likewise, be exempt from withholding tax. Additional compensation such as commissions, honoraria, fringe benefits, benefits in excess of the mandatory non-taxable amount of P90,000, taxable allowances, and other taxable income given to an MWE by the employer other than those which are expressly exempt from income tax, however, shall be subject to withholding tax using the revised withholding tax table.
Based on the above, in addition to the basic pay of the MWE, their exemption covers even holiday pay, overtime pay, night differential pay, and hazard pay. An MWE will only be taxed on the amount of the additional compensation which is not covered by the exemption.
The inclusion of this categorical guideline in RR No. 11-2018 is a welcome development for MWEs. It can be recalled that there was a 2008 BIR regulation suggesting that an MWE who receives additional taxable compensation and benefits shall no longer be entitled to the privilege of being an MWE and, therefore, their entire income is subject to tax. For example, if a MWE receives, in addition to his minimum salary, a P1 commission for selling his employer’s inventory, not only would this commission be subject to tax but also his entire salary. Unfair, right? One would think that it is better to not receive additional taxable benefits than to receive less take-home pay, because of withholding tax.
Although this 2008 regulation was nullified in a 2017 Supreme Court decision, it is comforting to note that the above categorical guideline in RR No. 11-2018 to protect the exemption of MWEs is in place.
As an administrative requirement, in case of hazardous employment, the employer shall indicate in the annual Alphabetical List of Employees, the MWEs who received the hazard pay, period of employment, amount of hazard pay, and justification for such payment as certified by the concerned Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE)-allied agency. The certification is an attachment in the filing of the Annual Information Return (BIR Form No. 1604C). In case the MWE is in the public sector, the document to be attached is the Department of Budget Management (DBM) Circular related to such payment of hazard pay.
2. REVISED WITHHOLDING TAX RATES AND TABLES
Starting Jan. 1, the employer shall deduct and withhold from such compensation a tax determined in accordance with the prescribed withholding tax table, as published by the BIR under Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 1-2018.
Using the new withholding tax table as an example, if you are receiving a monthly compensation of P20,000 (net of SSS/GSIS/PHIC/HDMF) and are single with no dependents, your monthly withholding tax should be P0. Prior to the TRAIN Law, though, if you have the same monthly compensation, your withholding tax would then be P2,916.75.
Check your withholding tax this year. The revised tax table is effective beginning Jan. 1. See if you are entitled to a refund.
3. INCREASED AMOUNT OF CERTAIN DE MINIMIS BENEFITS
Although the TRAIN Law did not touch on amendments to de minimis benefits, it is a welcome development that the Department of Finance made upward adjustments to certain nontaxable de minimis benefits.
The nontaxable cash allowance to dependents of employees rose to P1,500 per employee per semester (P250 per month) from not exceeding P750 per employee per semester (P125 per month).
In addition, the nontaxable rice subsidy has been raised to not more than P2,000 per month from not more than P1,500.
Further, the nontaxable uniform and clothing allowance has been increased to P6,000 per annum from P5,000.
Based on the increases above, employers may consider reevaluating their compensation policy, particularly in giving salary increases, to possibly maximize their employees’ take-home pay.
With all the illustrative examples in RR No. 11-2018, I hope my friend and all other employees would be more aware of the computation of their taxes. Every peso counts, especially now that commodity prices have gone up, because of the TRAIN Law. On the part of the employers, compliance with tax regulations is a must, because failure to do so could result in penalties or possible deficiency tax assessments.
Nikkolai F. Canceran is a senior manager of the Tax Advisory and Compliance of P&A Grant Thornton. P&A Grant Thornton is one of the leading audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing services firms in the Philippines.
As published in BusinessWorld, dated 03 April 2018