-
Business consulting services
Our business consulting services can help you improve your operational performance and productivity, adding value throughout your growth life cycle.
-
Business process solutions
We can help you identify, understand and manage potential risks to safeguard your business and comply with regulatory requirements.
-
Business risk services
The relationship between a company and its auditor has changed. Organisations must understand and manage risk and seek an appropriate balance between risk and opportunities.
-
Cybersecurity
As organisations become increasingly dependent on digital technology, the opportunities for cyber criminals continue to grow.
-
Forensic and investigation services
At Grant Thornton, we have a wealth of knowledge in forensic services and can support you with issues such as dispute resolution, fraud and insurance claims.
-
Mergers and acquisitions
Globalisation and company growth ambitions are driving an increase in M&A activity worldwide. We work with entrepreneurial businesses in the mid-market to help them assess the true commercial potential of their planned acquisition and understand how the purchase might serve their longer- term strategic goals.
-
Recovery and reorganisation
Workable solutions to maximise your value and deliver sustainable recovery
-
Transactional advisory services
We can support you throughout the transaction process – helping achieve the best possible outcome at the point of the transaction and in the longer term.
-
Valuations
We provide a wide range of services to recovery and reorganisation professionals, companies and their stakeholders.
-
IFRS
The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of global accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) for the preparation of public company financial statements. At Grant Thornton, our IFRS advisers can help you navigate the complexity of financial reporting from IFRS 1 to IFRS 17 and IAS 1 to IAS 41.
-
Audit quality monitoring
Having a robust process of quality control is one of the most effective ways to guarantee we deliver high-quality services to our clients.
-
Global audit technology
We apply our global audit methodology through an integrated set of software tools known as the Voyager suite.
-
Corporate and business tax
Our trusted teams can prepare corporate tax files and ruling requests, support you with deferrals, accounting procedures and legitimate tax benefits.
-
Direct international tax
Our teams have in-depth knowledge of the relationship between domestic and international tax laws.
-
Global mobility services
Through our global organisation of member firms, we support both companies and individuals, providing insightful solutions to minimise the tax burden for both parties.
-
Indirect international tax
Using our finely tuned local knowledge, teams from our global organisation of member firms help you understand and comply with often complex and time-consuming regulations.
-
Innovation and investment incentives
Dynamic businesses must continually innovate to maintain competitiveness, evolve and grow. Valuable tax reliefs are available to support innovative activities, irrespective of your tax profile.
-
Private client services
Our solutions include dealing with emigration and tax mitigation on the income and capital growth of overseas assets.
-
Transfer pricing
The laws surrounding transfer pricing are becoming ever more complex, as tax affairs of multinational companies are facing scrutiny from media, regulators and the public
-
Tax policy
Tax policies are constantly evolving and there are a number of complex changes on the horizon that could significantly affect your business.
-
Outsourcing Changes to the Outsourcing legislation, specifically when offshoringSignificant changes to the dynamic of the financial services sector in recent years have shifted the paradigms in how we work. The increased digitisation of the workforce, changes in business models, globalisation, and remote working capabilities have led to a new approach to the delivery of services.
-
Asset management Inflation and tax planningThe recent onset of rapid inflation is an unwelcome development that is having a widespread impact on US businesses and tax planning.
Our 'IFRS Viewpoint' series provides insights from our global IFRS team on applying IFRSs in challenging situations. Each issue will focus on an area where the Standards have proved difficult to apply or lack guidance. This issue provides a framework for accounting for loans made by an entity to a related party that are at below-market levels of interest. Common examples of such loans include:
- inter-company loans (in the separate or individual financial statements)
- employee loans.
Loans are one type of financial instrument. As such they are governed by IFRS 9 (2014) 'Financial Instruments' which requires all financial instruments to be initially recognised at fair value. This can create issues when loans are made at below-market rates of interest, which is often the case for loans to related parties.
Normally the transaction price of a loan (ie the loan amount) will represent its fair value. For loans made to related parties however, this may not always be the case as such loans are often not on commercial terms. Where this is the case, the fair value of the loans must be calculated and the difference between fair value and transaction price accounted for. This IFRS Viewpoint provides a framework for analysing both the initial and subsequent accounting for such loans.
Our view
Where related party loans are made on normal commercial terms, no specific accounting issues arise and the fair value at inception will usually equal the loan amount.
Where a loan is not on normal commercial terms however, the 'below-market' element of the transaction needs to be evaluated and separately accounted for.
The diagram illustrates the framework we believe should be applied in analysing such questions. The first step is to determine whether the loan is on normal commercial terms. If it is not, the 'below-market' part indicates that part of the transaction price is for something other than the financial instrument and should therefore be accounted for independently from the residual amount of the loan receivable or payable.
This separate element should be accounted for under the most relevant Standard. For example, in the case of a loan to an employee that pays interest at a rate less than the market rate, the difference between the loan amount and fair value is, in substance an employee benefit that should be accounted for under IAS 19.
Where the 'below-market' element of the loan is not directly addressed by a Standard, reference should be made to the IASB's Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (the Conceptual Framework) in determining the appropriate accounting. For example, for reasons we will explain, in the case of a loan from a parent to a subsidiary that pays interest at less than the market rate, the difference between the loan amount and the fair value (discount or premium) will typically be recorded as
- an investment in the parent's separate financial statements (as a component of the overall investment in the subsidiary)
- a component of equity in the subsidiary's individual financial statements (sometimes referred to as a 'capital contribution').
Having separately accounted for this element of the loan, the remaining loan receivable or payable should be accounted for under IFRS 9. IFRS 9 sets out the classification and measurement requirements for the loan receivable or payable as well as the impairment requirements for the receivable.
Review the attached pdf for more analysis and examples.