shouldiuse.io

Categories

VERDICT

Grant Thornton Review

Depends

Should I use Grant Thornton?

A community of almost 10,000 audit & assurance, tax and advisory problem solvers. - grantthornton.com

· 1 week ago

Hire Grant Thornton if you are a mid-market or PE-backed company needing full-service audit, tax, or advisory from a top-10 firm. Skip it if you need simple tax prep or a stable boutique — its fine record and PE-driven churn are real risks.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources. Caveat: most reviews are employee-side; client-side reviews are scarce.

Ratings

  • Value for moneyNo public pricing evidence at all
  • Ease of useNot measurable for a services engagement
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Not disclosed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed

Best for

  • Mid-market audit engagements
  • PE-backed firms needing tax and advisory
  • Fraud investigation mandates
  • Enterprise cyber risk advisory

Not for

  • Small businesses needing basic tax prep
  • Startups wanting cheap bookkeeping
  • Buyers wanting a stable, independent boutique
  • Anyone expecting published, transparent pricing

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Regulatory fine history: SEC, PCAOB, and UK penalties spanning 2015–2022. Scrutinize engagement QA terms.

medium

Guess: no public pricing; fees are engagement-based and opaque. Benchmark against RSM or BDO first.

medium

PE ownership (New Mountain Capital) plus $5bn CBIZ acquisition may cause team churn mid-engagement.

medium

Public sector advisory arm was sold to Guidehouse — confirm exactly which entity would serve you.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Full-service breadth: audit, tax, advisory, plus cybersecurity and ERP alliances
  • 9th largest US accounting firm with a deep bench
  • Trusted for high-stakes fraud investigations
  • Runs managed security operations on CrowdStrike Falcon
  • Global reach: ~10,000 professionals, 50+ US offices

Cons

  • Record £21m negligence payout; Supreme Court upheld £13.4m ruling
  • Repeated SEC and PCAOB fines for missed audit red flags
  • Employee reviews cite high turnover and PE-driven decline
  • Nearly no verifiable client reviews — G2 lists just 3
  • Aggressive PE-fueled M&A ($5bn CBIZ deal) risks service disruption

Sources & method

- 10 sources - Multiple audit-failure fines (SEC 2015, PCAOB 2017 and 2022, UK 2021) plus £21m negligence damages; no client data breach found in sources reviewed.

official x1review x3security x4news x2
  • SEC fines over missed audit red flags, SEC penalized Grant Thornton and partners for ignoring red flags in audits (2015).
  • PCAOB $1.5M fine, PCAOB fined the firm $1.5 million in 2017, with further disclosure-related fines in 2022.
  • UK fine for skepticism failures in Interserve audit, Grant Thornton UK was fined in 2021 over audit skepticism failures.
  • £21m negligence damages upheld, UK Supreme Court ruled the firm must pay £13.4m over negligent advice; earlier £21m award reported in 2019.

Key stats

  • Feature depth: 4/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money. No public pricing evidence at all
  • Ease of use. Not measurable for a services engagement
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Audit, tax, advisory, cyber, ERP alliances in-house
  • Support quality: 2/5. High turnover and PE-related staff complaints
  • Security posture: 2/5. SEC, PCAOB, UK fines; no breach reported
  • #9 Firm rank largest US accounting firm
  • ~10,000 Professionals audit, tax & advisory globally
  • 50+ US offices per ON24 customer case study
  • 3 G2 reviews as a listed seller — very thin

Pricing

Not disclosed

Security

Multiple audit-failure fines (SEC 2015, PCAOB 2017 and 2022, UK 2021) plus £21m negligence damages; no client data breach found in sources reviewed.

  • SEC fines over missed audit red flagsSEC penalized Grant Thornton and partners for ignoring red flags in audits (2015).³
  • PCAOB $1.5M finePCAOB fined the firm $1.5 million in 2017, with further disclosure-related fines in 2022.⁴
  • UK fine for skepticism failures in Interserve auditGrant Thornton UK was fined in 2021 over audit skepticism failures.⁵
  • £21m negligence damages upheldUK Supreme Court ruled the firm must pay £13.4m over negligent advice; earlier £21m award reported in 2019.⁶

What users say

feedback is almost entirely employee-side, citing high turnover and private-equity-driven decline, while verifiable client reviews are nearly nonexistent.

“Don't work for Grant Thornton. PE is destroying it”
Reddit, r/Accounting
“Regret leaving Big4 for Grant Thornton”
Reddit, r/Big4
“How is working at Grant Thronton? Any advice or warnings?”
Reddit, r/Accounting

Alternatives

Compare Grant Thornton with each alternative.

  • Local CPA firm

    Cheaper, simpler choice for small-business tax and bookkeeping.

Companies that use it

  • IndusInd Bank⁹
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources. Caveat: most reviews are employee-side; client-side reviews are scarce.

Top-10 accounting firm for complex audit/tax/advisory; overkill and opaque pricing for small business; note its regulatory fine record.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources. Caveat: most reviews are employee-side; client-side reviews are scarce.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Grant Thornton official sitegrantthornton.com
    official
  2. Grant Thornton LLP — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  3. SEC Fines Grant Thornton, Partners Over Missed Red Flagslaw360.com
    security
  4. PCAOB Fines Grant Thornton $1.5 Millioncfo.com
    security
  5. Grant Thornton UK fined for skepticism failures in Interserve auditcomplianceweek.com
    security
  6. Supreme Court rules Grant Thornton must pay £13.4maccountingweb.co.uk
    security
  7. Grant Thornton 'high turnover' reviews — Glassdoorglassdoor.com
    review
  8. Don't work for Grant Thornton. PE is destroying it — Redditreddit.com
    review
  9. IndusInd Bank Taps Grant Thornton For Fraud Checksnews18.com
    news
  10. Grant Thornton Reviews — G2g2.com
    review

Add this review to your site

This check for Grant Thornton says Depends.

Put the badge on your site.

Visitors see the independent review.

The link points here, and search engines follow it.

This is the badge visitors see on your site.

Depends Grant Thornton Independent review on Should I Use It

Paste one snippet. Keep the link as it is. A nofollow tag stops search engines from following it.

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.