GT to update on partnership revamp by end of 2015
Details of Grant Thornton's move to adopt a John Lewis-style partnership expected by year end, Sacha Romanovitch tells Accountancy Age
GRANT THORNTON, the fifth-biggest accountancy firm in Britain, expects to provide an update on its move to adopt a John Lewis-style partnership before the end of the year, its new chief executive has confirmed.
Speaking to Accountancy Age, Sacha Romanovitch, who took over from Scott Barnes as chief executive this summer, said the firm would provide more information about how it is remodelling as a shared enterprise among all of its 4,200 staff “after a partner meeting in November”.
In May, Grant Thornton announced it was to become the first major accountancy firm to launch an all employee consultation on a model for shared enterprise, which will hand all its people a say and stake in the firm.
The firm said the first stages of the new model would be in place 1 July 2015, while the profit-share will not apply to the results for the year to the end of June 2015.
Romanovitch spoke to Accountancy Age as the firm reported steady revenues for 2015 and said that distributable profit per partner rose 3.4% to £398,000. Audit and tax growth was offset by a drop off in work from distressed businesses.
She said the firm had invested significantly in capabilities and infrastructure such as its audit tools and methodology which includes an audit system that is used across all 130 Grant Thornton member firms. A further suite of analytics tools is expected by 2017.