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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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Behind the Numbers: People of P&A Grant Thornton
Discover the inspiring stories of the individuals who make up our vibrant community. From seasoned veterans to fresh faces, the Purple Tribe is a diverse team united by a shared passion.
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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.
Our era is characterized by ever-changing technological advancement. Technology has touched our human existence including the way we educate ourselves, the way we deal and communicate, and the way we travel from one place to another. It has affected our interactions with one another such as shopping and socializing. From a business perspective, technology continues to play a vital role on how entities conduct their operation and maintain their competitive advantage.
The advent of technology, however, has given birth to some issues confronting our government regulators. Such advancement includes the use of Internet to disseminate information on certain products and the sale of products online. These issues may not have been expected a few decades ago, but should be clarified and expounded in order to meet the demands of our fast changing world.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is no exception from this challenge. Recently, it faced the task of making a determination as to whether a certain business using technology to bolster its operation would be subject to the foreign equity limitation in accordance with existing rules. Under the Constitution, mass media must be fully owned and controlled by Filipino citizens. On the other hand, foreign equity is allowed for advertising business but must not exceed 30% of the total shareholdings.
The issue on foreign equity becomes relevant when, for instance, a foreign investor which may be more technologically wise and advanced would like to engage in business in the Philippines. As we know, our Constitution was last revised in 1987 -- an era when technological development may not have been as extremely fast as today. Thus, it is timely to look back at how the SEC has classified certain business activities to determine whether there is need to comply with the requirements on foreign equity.
In making the characterization of a business activity, the SEC, citing a Department of Justice opinion, held that the function of advertising agencies is to serve as agents or counselors of advertisers by writing, preparing or producing the commercial messages or materials used by advertisers in selling their goods and services and by selecting and recommending the medium or media to be used as the vehicle for disseminating such messages to the public. Advertising agencies do not actually disseminate the materials they prepare as they have to utilize or avail of the facilities of mass media such as newspapers, radio, and television.
Relevantly, the Consumer Act of the Philippines states that advertising agency or agent is a service organization or enterprise creating, conducting, producing, implementing or giving counsel on promotional campaigns or program through any medium for and in behalf of any advertiser. Advertising is defined as the business of conceptualizing, presenting or making available to the public, through any form of mass media, fact, data or information about the attributes, features, quality or availability of consumer products, services or credit.
On the other hand, mass media under the Constitution refers to any medium of communication designed to reach the masses and that tends to set the standards, ideals and aims of the masses, the distinctive feature of which is the dissemination of information and ideas to the public, or a portion thereof. It refers to any means or methods used to convey advertising messages to the public such as television, radio, magazine, cinema, billboards, posters, streamers, hand bills, leaflets, mails and the like.
Considering the forgoing, the SEC has made the following determination:
1. The leasing out or subleasing of advertising spaces, such as waiting sheds, billboard structures, electronic LED displays, and other fixed or movable structures where advertisements can be displayed, actually provides a medium to disseminate or convey advertising messages to the public is considered as mass media activity (SEC-OGC Opinion No. 16-17).
2. The operation of a voucher platform on the Internet with the purpose of increasing the sales of particular product or service is, in effect, a dissemination of information to the general public through the Internet and, thus, considered as mass media activity. However, the mere design of the voucher placement such as writing, preparing or producing the commercial messages or materials and selecting and recommending the medium or media to be used as the vehicle for disseminating such messages to the public is treated as advertising business (SEC-OGC No. 16-12).
3. The wholesale marketing and sale of digital publications through the Internet and mobile technology which necessarily includes the conceptualization, creation, preparation and production of the commercial Web layout and communication messages intended by the digital publications’ creators to attract and lure their target consumers to purchase said digital publications is considered as advertising activity (SEC-OGC Opinion No. 06-14).
Undoubtedly, the shift of business models from the traditional brick and mortar to virtual may cause some issues as to their proper classifications. Businesses and regulators must continuously coordinate to address any difficulty and find solutions that preserve the rule of law and promote business at the same time.
Renato R. Balisacan, Jr. is a manager of the Tax Advisory and Compliance division of Punongbayan & Araullo.
As published in Business World, dated 30 August 2016