Relationship checking

The Grant Thornton relationship checking policy requires member firms, and professional personnel from all service lines, to maintain their objectivity when delivering services to clients. To avoid conflicts of interest and threats to independence arising from the provision of non-audit services, the identification of existing relationships or services provided to an international client prior to accepting an additional assignment is essential.

During 2010, Grant Thornton strengthened its global relationship checking policy. The new policy clarifies when an international relationship check is required and the process to follow in performing the check. When the entity has international operations (or has related entities with international operations) engagement teams must conduct a check to identify relationships that may exist with other member firms or their affiliates. This check is conducted when the member firm is proposing to provide services to a prospective client or new services to existing clients. Existing relationships will not always present a conflict or independence threat but, having identified a relationship, the proposing partner and existing engagement partner are required to evaluate this risk before proceeding.

The relationship checking policy requires member firms to check the following lists before proceeding with an engagement:

• global restricted list (GRL) for references to either the prospective client or any related entities. The GRL is a list of all public entities that are restricted due to an audit relationship
• global conflicts list (GCL) for references to either the prospective client or related entities. The GCL includes member firms’ significant business relationships, where the nature of this relationship will impair independence.

Before proposing a service to an entity on the GRL or the GCL, the member firm is required to consult with the relationship contact to determine that any threats to independence created by the proposed service can be adequately safeguarded.