Insights

Companies must respond to evolving consumer expectations and demands with better supply chain and logistics management. Technology is the solution.

‘Presenteeism’ (the art of being at work but not working) happens in many businesses – it may very well be happening in yours right now.

Teams from Grant Thornton’s Singapore and Thailand firms recently planted 10,000 mangroves as part of their commitment to corporate social responsibility.

This article examines the RCEP trade agreement as it stands in late 2019, while also comparing it to the CPTPP agreement.

A strong finance function can drive innovation and proactively influence real-time strategic decision making, while its commercial insight helps broaden interactive stakeholder engagement and communication.

This article explains why companies might (or might not) choose to go public, how they should prepare for taking such a big step, and what the alternatives might be.

As a new and unpredictable decade dawns, the business world looks forward with its optimism largely intact, according to Grant Thornton’s latest International Business Report (IBR). Leaders in mid-market companies around the world delivered an average optimism score of 59% in H2 2019, a rise of 3% over the first half of the year. This modest improvement is an encouraging contrast to the two consecutive declines that preceded it, although there remains a long way to climb before reaching H1 2018’s high of 69% global optimism.

Whether you’re a sole trader or the CEO of a multinational organisation, we are all constantly seeking ways to do what we do better.

All organisations are grappling with the myriad of employee agreements and obligations that result in a wide variety of payments to their people.

Despite the challenges facing the Thai economy, businesses in Thailand can succeed in 2020 by reducing overheads, conserving cash, improving efficiency of internal structures, and focusing on customer service.

With the economic outlook in Thailand less bright than in years past, we look at how the country can find a new way forward for future business success.

Sustainability is vital to an organisation’s success. Team-building activities are an excellent way to generate ideas for improving sustainability.

Startups tend to be comprised of young, dynamic people who are passionate about their work and emotionally invested in the company’s success. However, as the business grows more complex and market conditions change, startups sometimes struggle to implement proper processes. It is here that many fledgling companies begin to go off-course. Failure to organise the business correctly and make necessary adjustments can lead to slowdowns in workflow, stalling the organisation just when it is most in need of momentum. Lapses in regulatory compliance are another common side effect of inexperience, resulting in fines and loss of investor confidence. Having passionate workers is excellent, but startups must also implement clear strategies and efficient processes in order to ensure both regulatory compliance and long-term success.

As technologies such as Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain become increasingly integrated in the auditing industry, auditors will need to adjust their focus in order to thrive in this rapidly changing environment.

As we have seen, Thailand plans to spend money attracting new businesses and tourists, all while lowering personal income taxes. Given such an array of new expenses, the treasury arm of the Thai government would ordinarily come under pressure to balance the budget. Indeed, we have already seen the Ministry of Finance struggling to locate new sources of revenue. Thailand’s Revenue Department has considered plans for imposing taxes on capital gains, casting the tax net wide enough to include on-line operators. Banks will be required to report account holders with high-volume cash transactions in an effort to seal off tax evasion. Plans are in place to increase the tax base – with a target of adding 200,000 new taxpayers per annum.

The world’s leading survey of mid-market companies, Grant Thornton’s IBR, once again provides vital insight into the health of the global mid-market. These results for H1 2019 reflect the views of nearly 5,000 mid-market companies across 30+ countries interviewed in May and June of this year.