“We know our continued success and growth as a firm depends on us working with clients who are growing and changing in an economy that is thriving. Our Vibrant Economy programme has helped to position us as the firm of choice for progressive, dynamic organisations, reflected in our growth, our increasing brand awareness and our brand consideration. This positions us well for continued sustainable growth.”
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO Grant Thornton UK LLP
Leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP has continued to take bold steps to drive its purpose-led strategy, radically reshaping its portfolio to help shape a vibrant economy. The UK’s first shared enterprise professional services firm continues to differentiate itself in the market, working with dynamic UK organisations.
Against the backdrop of market volatility, complexity and uncertainty, Grant Thornton has taken bold steps to reshape its client portfolio, replacing 20% of profits through exiting certain streams of business and investing in others aligned to its purpose-led business strategy. As a result the firm saw growth in all three of its stated impact areas*.
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP commented:
“2016/17 delivered results which gives us great cause for optimism. Our brand awareness is at an all-time high, we are growing our market share in each of the three impact areas outlined in our Vision 2020 strategy, and we are seeing the seeds of sustainable profit growth driven by a unique shared enterprise culture.
“2016/17 has been a year where we turned our business inside-out, aligning everything we do to our clear purpose of shaping a vibrant economy. Our ability to gain and sustain market share, as well as our increased brand awareness, clearly demonstrates that our purpose-led strategy is resonating with the market. This positions us well for future growth as we turn increased awareness into valuable commercial outcomes for our clients and our business.”
*Excluding the cessation of the government funded Business Growth Services item
Our purpose is to shape a vibrant economy. Throughout the year the firm set out an ambitious programme of work designed to identify connections, insights and actions to drive value for our clients, our communities and our business.
This programme included our standout Vibrant Economy Index which looks beyond GDP as a measure of success. We identified six areas, drawing on a basket of measures from existing data, to draw out insights across England as to relative performance of 324 local authority areas.
In addition to the Index we also launched the Vibrant Economy Commission (a group of progressive leaders shaping our work to unlock the potential of the UK), ran seven “Live Lab” inquiries across major UK cities with public, private and not for profit stakeholders, and published a ‘Blueprint for a Vibrant Economy’ - bringing together insights and policy recommendations from our in-depth engagement across the country, which we delivered to government.
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP commented:
“We know our continued success and growth as a firm depends on us working with clients who are growing and changing in an economy that is thriving. Our Vibrant Economy programme has helped to position us as the firm of choice for progressive, dynamic organisations, reflected in our growth, our increasing brand awareness and our brand consideration. This positions us well for continued sustainable growth.”
Grant Thornton is now an adviser to over 51% of the FTSE100, is the leading auditor to the public sector, and its private sector clients employ more than 6.3 million people in the UK. 2016/17 also included game-changing work with a major UK clearing bank on the ring-fencing of its retail bank.
We have also refined and expanded our Export Advisory Service, providing an integrated channel for our clients to access the fifteen different specialist functions which help them export overseas.
Through the year the firm continued to invest in key areas to support current and future growth. This included investments in its strategic account programme - resulting in income growth of 24% during the year. In 2016/17 the firm also invested in its Financial Services and Forensics expertise with 30% of all partner appointments in this area. This investment resulted in Financial Services and Forensics contributing a combined 24% increase in profits year-on-year.
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP commented:
“2016/17 was a year in which we launched a range of services which help our clients develop and grow, as well as developing propositions to help tackle future growth opportunities. Over 50% of our revenue is now derived from clients trading internationally so it is critical that we develop propositions and solutions which help them maximise their global growth potential. Investments in international advisory and leveraging the huge experience of the global Grant Thornton member network is key to this.”
2016/17 was a good year for Grant Thornton as an employer. Applications to the firm are at a record high (over 32,000) and we were recognised by several external bodies as a great place to work. Glassdoor’s annual Employees’ Choice Awards rated us the 12th best place to work, describing us as “a firm with a real sense of purpose”.
In addition we were also voted number one in the UK’s first ever Social Mobility Employer Index. The index ranks employers on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds. This recognition makes us even more determined to build upon our foundations to create a best-in-class Shared Enterprise firm.
Finally, an important part of a Shared Enterprise culture are shared rewards. As a result of our 2016/17 performance the firm further added to the shared reward pool. The pool is on track to pay out to employees in the 2018/19 financial year.
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP commented:
“The continued success of our strategy depends on both our people and our Shared Enterprise culture. This culture is driven by core beliefs that are key to our future sustainable success. We passionately believe that a diverse team of nearly 5,000 people sharing ideas, sharing responsibility and ultimately sharing rewards will unleash the potential of our people and will be critical to the success of our business. We know we have more work to do in this area and we are unwavering in our commitment.”
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP concluded:
“2016/17 was a year of excellent progress. 2017/18 is a year where we will build upon that progress to deliver exceptional client value and sustainable growth, enabled by exceptional quality and living our Shared Enterprise culture to deliver an exceptional experience for our people and our clients.”
