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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.
On Sunday afternoon, I was surprised to read news of Taal Volcano erupting, spewing ash and causing the shutdown of our international airport. I was caught unaware. A search of my newsfeed showed no prior articles about Taal Volcano, so I was surprised to see graphic images from friends and family of the volcanic eruption suddenly flooding my social media. Perhaps I was more focused on the Iran-US situation or the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s announcement that they are stepping back from their royal roles to have missed updates on Taal, if there were any.
I hope that residents near the volcano had more prior warning than I did. Receiving the proper information is indeed important if we are to be prepared for contingencies and emergencies. The same is true if we are expected to comply with various rules and regulations applicable to our businesses. Hence, issuances from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) clarifying rules and requirements are always welcome developments.
Such was the case when the BIR issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 143-2019 in December. RMC No. 143-2019 clarified the rules on being in the top withholding agent (TWA) list.
Prior to RMC No. 143-2019, some taxpayers complained of being on the list despite their businesses being small. I assume that the BIR is now cleaning up the TWA list. Last week, a friend happily announced that she had finally been delisted as a TWA. She should not have been on the list in the first place, considering her small trading business. Unlike in school, where students aim to be on the list of top students, being on the list of top withholding agents is not something most entrepreneurs aspire to.
TWAs have the additional task of withholding 1% on suppliers of goods and 2% on suppliers of services. The general rate of 1 and 2% creditable withholding tax (CWT) applies to regular local or resident suppliers, unless the withholding tax regulations specifically identify the payment as subject to a higher rate of withholding tax.
Under Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 7-2019, TWAs are taxpayers with gross sales/receipts or gross purchases or claimed deductible itemized expenses, as the case may be, of P12 million during the preceding taxable year.
Prior to 2018, newly identified TWAs received a letter from the BIR, informing them that they have been identified as TWAs and of their additional responsibility of withholding on all their regular purchases of goods and services. In early 2018, the BIR did away with sending notification letters to taxpayers identified as TWAs. The list is instead published in a newspaper of general circulation or posted on the BIR website. Hence, taxpayers are advised to regularly check the BIR website to ensure whether they are on the list.
Once published or posted, the TWA is obligated to withhold beginning the first day of the month following the month of publication. Taxpayers classified as TWAs under prior regulations remain as such, unless delisted from the existing TWA list.
Probably as a response to the confusion on why some taxpayers with relatively small incomes are included in the TWA list, RMC No. 143-2019 was issued to clarify the rules on TWAs. It emphasized that the TWA’s obligation to withhold is mandated only for businesses with significant levels of revenue, as identified in RR No 7-2019. It also reiterated the rules in Operations Memorandum Order No. 20-2019, which excluded the following taxpayers from the TWA list:
(a) National government agencies, government-owned or -controlled corporations, state universities and colleges, and local government units;
(b) Taxpayers who were included because of one-time transactions (i.e., estate and donor’s tax);
(c) Individual taxpayers deriving income on commission basis such as, but not limited to, insurance agents and real estate brokers if the P12-million income criteria was satisfied only in one taxable quarter (subject to verification);
(d) Taxpayers who are tax exempt from payment of income taxes with no proprietary activities (i.e., foundations, non-stock non-profit and tax exempt educational, religious and charitable institutions, etc.).
RMC No. 143-2019 emphasized that, even if taxpayers were included in the list or not removed from the existing list, they cannot be compelled to withhold the 1 and 2% CWT if they do not satisfy the P12-million threshold or they are excluded by Operations Memorandum Order No. 20-2019.
The clarification is a welcome break for small businesses on the list. The obligation of withholding the CWT is burdensome and even confusing for some businesses. In some cases, the obligation is even impossible to comply with, particularly if the expense is advanced by employees who are not well-informed on withholding tax rules. In such situations, some taxpayers just suffer the risk of paying deficiency taxes for failure to withhold the correct CWT.
However, even with the clarification under RMC No. 143-2019, it is indeed laudable that the BIR is continually cleaning up the list of TWAs. Taxpayers should not be left to fend for themselves and argue that they should no longer be on the list when audited by the BIR. Small businesses should be supported by the government by making compliance requirements easy to follow and understand. After all, the small businesses of today can become large taxpayers and important partners in inclusive growth, especially if given the proper support and guidance by the government.
I hope that residents affected by the Taal Volcano eruption are safe and receiving proper assistance from the government and NGOs. News reports have the shown the rapid escalation of Taal’s activity.
Many say prayers move mountains. In this case, I hope our prayers can calm a volcano.
Let’s Talk Tax is a weekly newspaper column of P&A Grant Thornton that aims to keep the public informed of various developments in taxation. This article is not intended to be a substitute for competent professional advice.
Eleanor Lucas Roque is the Head of Tax Advisory & Compliance division and one of the partner of P&A Grant Thornton, the Philippine member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.
As published in BusinessWorld, dated 14 January 2020