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Business Risk Services
Our Business Risk Services team deliver practical and pragmatic solutions that support clients in growing and protecting the inherent value of their businesses.
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Corporate Finance and Deal Advisory
We offer a dedicated team of experienced individuals with a focus on successfully executing transactions for corporates and financial institutions. We offer an integrated approach, with our corporate finance specialists working seamlessly with tax and other specialists to ensure that every angle is covered.
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Economic Advisory
Our all-island Economics Advisory team combines expertise in economics and business with a wealth of experience across the public and private sectors.
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Forensic Accounting
We have a different way of doing business by delivering real insight through a combination of technical rigour, commercial experience and intuitive judgment. We take pride in delivering responsive and tailored solutions to all our clients, capitalising on the wealth of experience housed within our Belfast and wider Forensics team
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People and Change Consulting
The Grant Thornton People & Change Consulting practice works with clients on these issues as well as on all aspects of how they attract, retain, engage develop, deploy and lead their people.
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Restructuring
We work with a wide variety of clients and stakeholders such as high street banks, private equity funds, directors, government agencies and creditors to implement solutions which provide the best possible outcomes.
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Technology Consulting
Motivating and assisting our clients to pursue, maintain and secure the benefits of digital solutions is at the core of our Digital Transformation teams' agenda and goals. We work with business leaders to deliver efficient digital strategies and operating models that provide new or enhanced capabilities.
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Corporate and International Tax
Northern Ireland businesses face further challenges as they operate in the only part of the UK that has a land border with a country offering a lower tax rate.
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Employer Solutions
Our team specialises in remuneration and incentive planning and works closely with employers, shareholders and employees to ensure that business strategies are aligned and goals achieved in the most tax efficient, cost-effective manner.
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Entrepreneur and Private Client Taxes
Our team of experienced advisors are on hand to guide you through any decision or transaction ranging from the establishment of new business ventures, to realising value on exit, to succession planning and providing for loved ones.
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Global Mobility Services
Grant Thornton Ireland offer a different approach to managing global mobility. We have brought together specialists from our tax, global payroll, people and change and financial accounting teams across Ireland and Northern Ireland, while drawing on the knowledge and insights of our global network of over 143 offices of mobility professionals to provide you with a holistic approach to managing global mobility.
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Outsourced Payroll
Our outsourced service provides valued service to over 150 separate PAYE schemes. These ranging from 1 to 1000 employees, working for micro, SME and global employers. The service is supported by the integrated network of tax and global mobility teams and the wider Grant Thornton network delivering a seamless service. Experienced staff deliver a personal service built around your business needs.
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Tax Disputes and Investigations
Our Tax Disputes and Investigation team is made up of tax experts and former HMRC investigators who have years of experience in dealing with a variety of tax investigations. Our expertise and insight can guide you through all interactions, keeping your cost at a minimum while allowing you to continue with the day to day running of your business.
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VAT and Indirect Taxes
At Grant Thornton (NI) LLP, our team helps Northern Ireland businesses manage their UK and global indirect tax risks which, as transactional taxes, can quickly become big liabilities.
With the increased shift in organisational focus towards new technologies, we must be sure to not forget about our most important asset, which is our people. When working to understand and connect with our people it is important to know the importance of skilful questions.
Whether it’s as a senior leader, or as a consultant in advisory, the power of questions is not always inherently clear – so write Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie K. John in the Harvard Business Review.
…unlike professionals such as litigators, journalists, and doctors, who are taught how to ask questions as an essential part of their training, few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed – or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.
Brooks and John explain some key factors holding us back. Egocentrism. Apathy. Overconfidence. Self-consciousness. But they regard the biggest inhibitor as simply being a lack of understanding as to how beneficial good questioning can be.
Open questions
We want to uncover what our conversational partner really thinks – even if it’s bad news. We are all susceptible to bias, so how can we best mitigate that in others? Start with W-questions: what, where, why, who, how. Closed questions – those starting with “Will you…” or “Don’t you…” – both corral the listener in a direction set by you, and enable a more reluctant conversational partner to give one-word responses. Conversely, open questions are far more exploratory. “What is your biggest concern?” “How might you solve that?” – these help us avoid bias, agendas and restricting the options of others.
Channel your inner Socrates
“The disciplined practice of thoughtful questioning enables the student to examine ideas and be able to determine the validity of those ideas” - Socrates
Socratic questioning enables us to challenge others’ assumptions, seek clarity, discover alternative viewpoints, explore implications of beliefs, and to seek supportive evidence. While open in style, they are nonetheless directed. Most of us know what it is like to face a Gatling-gun of questions. We feel more like a guinea pig than a valued colleague. With Socratic questioning, the questioner always has half an eye on where s/he wants to go. Ideas become richer, better thought-out, and reflective.
Take-away
- implicit in a question is the statement, “I don’t know.” It takes the pressure off yourself to have all the answers;
- as a manager or mentor, asking questions skilfully pushes responsibility towards the conversational partner to develop solutions;
- in a tough spot, a question gives you time to think and formulate your ideas;
- a question can act as a fact-check - a handy way to find out if the solution you might have offered was well-founded; and
- asking questions builds rapport. Relationships are essential in business, and authentic questions enhance them.
We are living through a period of significant change in the way organisations are structured and how our people work on a day-to-day basis. This raises major organisational, leadership and people challenges – at a time when business leaders are already grappling with business, economic and political risks on a global basis. Asking effective questions leads to deeper relationships, more effective strategy, and more sustainable outcomes. This is why it is at the heart of everything we do in People and Change Consulting at Grant Thornton. Grant Thornton has a dedicated People and Change Consulting team in place to help clients build the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for a changing environment.