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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.
The term “tax net” refers to “the mechanism for ensuring that people and companies pay their taxes.” A wider tax net means better revenue for a government to support its projects and improve its public services. But achieving a wider net is always a challenge, especially for developing countries.
Widening the tax net may be achieved by implementing a simplified taxation system, having efficient and effective tax enforcement, and building trust in the government, among others. A tax amnesty program may also help widen the tax base, if it is implemented properly.
A tax amnesty is a general pardon or the intentional overlooking by the State of its authority to impose penalties on persons otherwise guilty of violating a tax law. Amnesty involves an absolute waiving its right to collect what is due and giving tax evaders who wish to relent a chance to start with a clean slate. (G.R. No. 178797, Aug. 4, 2009)
A tax amnesty program is now being pushed for legislation in order to raise P26 billion in revenue to support infrastructure projects. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are now drafting the Amnesty Bill.
One of the draft bills on tax amnesty in the Senate covers all national internal revenue taxes, including value-added and excise taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BoC), for the taxable year 2017 and prior years. The amnesty amount is 5% of net assets as of Dec. 31, 2107 or the minimum amount which ranges from P40,000 to P250,000 for individuals and P120,000 to P500,000 for corporations, whichever is higher. The proposed Amnesty Bill, however, shall not cover withholding agents with respect to their withholding tax liabilities; those with pending cases with the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG); those with pending cases with Sandiganbayan involving unexplained or unlawfully acquired wealth under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; and those with pending cases in appropriate courts involving violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, among others.
Tax amnesty programs are not new to the Philippines. There have already been several tax amnesty programs implemented during previous administrations.
During the Marcos administration, there were 10 Presidential Decrees (PDs) issued on tax amnesty. Six of these PDs were issued for previously untaxed income and wealth. The total collection for all these PDs amounted to P1.88 billion. (NTRC Tax Research Journal, Vol. XXVIII.5, September-October 2016)
In 1986, Executive Order (EO) No. 41 was also issued to grant a one-time tax amnesty covering unpaid income taxes for the period 1981 to 1985. Another EO was issued to expand the coverage of the said amnesty to include estate and donor’s taxes. The total revenue collected from this program amounted to around P1.3 billion. (NTRC Tax Research Journal, Vol. XXVIII.5, September-October 2016)
The last general tax amnesty was on May 24, 2007 under Republic Act (RA) No. 9480, otherwise known as the “Tax Amnesty Act of 2007.” RA No. 9480 provided amnesty on all unpaid internal revenue taxes for the taxable year 2005 and prior years, and covered income tax, estate and donor’s tax, capital gains tax, value-added tax, other percentage taxes, excise taxes, and documentary stamp taxes. The total collections from this amnesty amounted to around P5.9 billion. (NTRC Tax Research Journal, Vol. XXVIII.5, September-October 2016)
While previous amnesty programs helped the government raise the needed revenues to fund its projects, the question is, “Did the government capture and process the information of the taxpayers who availed the programs and ensure their compliance going forward?”
The objectives of the tax amnesty programs are to improve tax compliance by giving errant taxpayers the opportunity to comply with tax laws and enter the tax system on a clean slate, to reduce the administrative backlog of tax enforcement agencies, to increase the level of public tax consciousness, and consequently, to raise additional revenue. Such a program should widen the tax net as tax evaders are brought into the tax system.
In a paper on “Best Practices in Tax Amnesty and Repatriations Programs” released by International Transparency, it is suggested that, in implementing a tax amnesty, tax authorities should be adequately equipped to handle tax cases professionally and expeditiously. This is to ensure that tax investigations and enforcement of tax laws are not tainted. The government should also have a robust data management system to capture and analyze information received during the amnesty period. Such information should also be used to determine noncompliant taxpayers. It is also important that, after the amnesty period, tax authorities should strictly enforce tax laws and impose higher penalties to tax evaders who did not avail of the program.
Moreover, the amnesty program should not be regularly implemented, as this may result in a decrease in the level of compliance of taxpayers who expect the government to offer another amnesty. Tax amnesty programs should be the exception rather than the norm, because they may negatively affect revenue collection and compliance in the long run.
Implementing a tax amnesty program this year may be helpful to both the government and the taxpaying public. A tax amnesty would help the government raise the needed revenues to fund its Build, Build, Build program and, at the same time, put to rest any unresolved issues that taxpayers may have in previous years. The amnesty will also give taxpayers more time to focus on the impact the TRAIN law has on their business operations. Lawmakers, however, should ensure that the amnesty law includes provisions that will attain its objectives, i.e., it should improve tax compliance by giving errant taxpayers the opportunity to comply with tax laws and enter the tax system on a clean slate, reduce the administrative backlog of tax enforcement agencies, increase the level of public tax consciousness, and consequently, raise additional revenue through the widening of the tax net.
Edward L. Roguel is a partner 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 13 March 2018