Grant Thornton expands national footprint to North Queensland

We are excited to announce that on 1 March 2014, the five Partners and 70 team members from the KPMG Cairns practice will be joining Grant Thornton Australia.

This merger supports Grant Thornton’s strategic growth agenda and expands our capability to serve our clients wherever they do business. Grant Thornton has long recognised the importance of Queensland’s regional centres and the substantial volume of business conducted outside of Brisbane, particularly in Far North Queensland. This region, while already established as an economic hub and gateway to our northern trading partners in Asia, has significant growth potential. We are excited to grow with North Queensland businesses, particularly in the tourism, agriculture, infrastructure and indigenous business sectors.

This is also an exciting opportunity to pursue further growth opportunities and to leverage relationships in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Asia.

CEO Robert Quant said the Cairns group has the skills and professional approach to add significant breadth and depth to Grant Thornton’s service offering in northern Australia and it cements us as the leading adviser to the dynamic middle market across the country.

“Our strategy is centred on strategic growth – for our clients, our people and our firm. Grant Thornton has more than doubled in size over the last three years which means we can provide greater opportunities for our clients and our people.

“The Cairns practice shares Grant Thornton’s passion for advising dynamic, growing organisations in Australia’s middle market – making this merger the right strategic fit for both firms. Both the Cairns practice and Grant Thornton have excellent clients and people. We share a commitment to delivering high quality services to our clients around the country and the world.

“We are committed to being on the ground to work with our clients wherever they do business. This merger significantly expands our geographic footprint. It means that our clients have access to world-class national and global resources, as well as strong, local business relationships outside the major capital cities.

“The Cairns practice has particular financial and accounting expertise in public sector and indigenous business enterprises which adds to the national group’s capabilities. This is a great opportunity for our people and our clients and will allow us to explore further growth in northern Australia and the Asian region. We are excited about this development”, Mr Quant said.

Mr Quant said that Grant Thornton will continue to pursue both organic growth and growth through mergers and acquisitions: “Grant Thornton is looking for talented individuals and successful groups to join us as part of the ongoing execution of our growth strategy”.

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For more information, please contact:

Samantha Murphy
National Brand & Communications Manager
T +61 7 3222 0344
M +61 466 748 873
E samantha.murphy@au.gt.com

About Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton Australia has more than 1,300 people working in offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. We are focussed on meeting the needs of dynamic, middle market clients and combine service breadth, depth of expertise and industry insight with an approachable “client first” mindset and a broad commercial perspective.

Grant Thornton is one of the world's leading organisations of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms. More than 35,000 Grant Thornton people, across over 100 countries, are focused on making a difference to clients, colleagues and the communities in which we live and work. A firm recognised locally and globally:

• 2013 Advisory Team of the Year: Thomson Reuters (Grant Thornton Australia) 
• 2013 Global Firm of the Year: British Accountancy Awards (Grant Thornton UK) 
• 2013 Network of the Year: International Accounting Bulletin (Grant Thornton International)