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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.
Director duties in periods of financial uncertainty
01 Aug 2017It would appear that the only certainty in the current pre-Brexit, politically paralysed climate is uncertainty itself. In the short term the consensus view is that business owners and directors can expect to have to navigate an economic landscape that may change with whatever headline comes out of Brussels, London, Washington, or indeed Stormont.
For directors of a limited liability company, responsibility for the financial affairs of their company falls to them irrespective of the events in the wider economy. Despite the limited liability status of the companies, directors are often surprised to learn that there are circumstances when a director can be held personally liable for the debts of the company.
Wrongful trading is one such circumstance, which arises if a company continues trading with no real prospect of the company avoiding insolvency.
It does not mean that a company should cease trading as soon as problems arise, but it does mean that directors need to recognise the signs which may indicate that the company may be facing financial difficulty.
Regular and reliable management accounts are fundamental to making those assessments. It is no longer acceptable for a director to wait for annual accounts, based on historical information, to be prepared by the external accountants or auditors in order to evaluate the company’s financial performance.
In addition to the management accounts, monthly financial information should also have a focus on the future and include projected information in a format that allows the directors to identify funding difficulties or problems which may be looming.
This financial information should allow the directors to consider the sales pipeline but also the overheads and costs. Typically budgeted profit and loss accounts, cash flow projections and balance sheets are prepared but one size does not fit all and the overriding consideration should be whether the information is sufficient for the scale and complexity of the underling business.
Like the economy, it is accepted that the only thing certain about projections is that the actual position will be different, but the value of the process is in understanding where and how the actual performance has deviated from the forecast and plans are adapted accordingly.
Typical warning signs include diminishing cash balances, breaching overdraft facilities and increasing creditor days, and should prompt directors into taking early action. If the position has reached the stage when the bank has stopped payments or statutory demands are being received, the options open to the director to rescue the company are more limited.
Any director who is concerned about the long term viability of their business should to seek professional advice from an insolvency practitioner on the options available - and the sooner the better. They should be careful to document the basis for their business decisions so that they can demonstrate that they have acted in the best interest of the business and defend against claims of wrongful trading should the business ultimately fail.