Grant Thornton International confirms departure of Danish member firm

24 May 2011
Grant Thornton International has announced the departure of its Danish member firm which is being taken over by PwC locally.

Ed Nusbaum, chief executive officer of Grant Thornton International explains, "We understand that the Danish firm has decided to be acquired by a larger firm and that they will be leaving our organisation.

"We are not surprised that the strength of the Grant Thornton brand makes our firms subject to the interest of our competitors and Grant Thornton Denmark's market position makes them particularly attractive.

"We fully intend to maintain our already substantial presence in the Nordic countries and will now focus on finding a replacement firm. The strength of the Danish market means there are a number of candidate firms and we will take the time necessary to find a partner with a close strategic 'fit' and who shares our ambition to set Grant Thornton apart in the profession, to be a leader in our chosen markets, and to provide the complete range of audit, tax and advisory services to dynamic organisations.

“The European Commission is examining the accounting profession and has issued a Green Paper to address issues such as the role of the auditor and competition in the public company audit market. Takeovers such as this one will have the impact of further reducing competition in the public company audit market, and may give rise to further concerns by regulatory authorities and the Commission. Nevertheless, we are confident that Grant Thornton will be successful in Denmark and throughout Europe. We will not allow this to distract us from our focus of delivering the highest quality of service to our clients throughout our global network.

“We wish all the best to our exiting partners and staff in Denmark. We believe the transition will be smooth and Grant Thornton’s global clients will continue to be well-served in Denmark, all of the Nordic countries and the rest of the world.”

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