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Financial year 2023/24 – Grant Thornton Germany again shows double-digit growth

17 Feb 2025 12 min read
  • Total sales revenue for 2023/24 rises to 249 million euros 
  • Constant growth over recent years
  • Consulting expands to include digitalisation and sustainability

 

Duesseldorf, 17 February 2025 - Grant Thornton Germany is continuing its steady course of growth and finished its financial year 2023/24 on 30 September 2024 at 249 million euros, a plus in sales of around 18 per cent. The largest part of total sales revenue was made by the Tax service line, with a share of 116 million euros (+20 per cent year on year), followed by the Audit & Assurance service line at 77 million euros (+15 per cent). The Advisory service line recorded a share of 41 million euros (despite growth in all the subservice lines, particularly in deal advisory and VEDAS, no growth overall in Advisory on the group level owing to a contrary effect from a planned deconsolidation of a joint venture). The Legal service line contributed 15 million euros (+88 per cent) to total sales revenue for 2023/24. (All figures rounded). The number of employees rose by ten per cent to around 2,000. 

“We have had a successful financial year in which we were able to expand our service portfolio in all our service lines. We are established with our target group, the upper international mid-market, as an offerer of quality they can trust and have a strong position in the market”, says the CEO of Grant Thornton Germany, Prof. Dr Heike Wieland-Blöse. “Internal promotions and new joiners mean we are well set up for further growth on all levels in terms of staff and specialisations.” 

Development of the service lines

The Tax service line is consistently following a holistic growth strategy, with a successful focus on specialisation. Subservice lines are being intensively developed, especially international tax (including transfer pricing and global mobility services), financial services tax and tax tech/digitalisation to provide advice to customers holistically and comprehensively from a single point of contact. We were able to gain many new clients in the area of digitised tax CMS and processes, including VAT processes. In ESG/sustainability, the Tax service line has gained a stable position, e.g. on environmental taxes and governance topics and particularly for customers in the retail & consumer products sector. Many new staff and the expansion of expertise in tax support the service line’s further ambitions for growth.

Last year, the Audit & Assurance service line was able to successfully expand its portfolio of services, particularly in assurance services for financial services, ESG, business risk & forensic services and IT audits. Another particular focus is the in-depth training of auditors on all career levels in ESG and sustainability reporting (including as “IDW Sustainability Auditor”), in preparation for the increase in requirements in the highly dynamic ESG environment. Another focus is the further strategic digitalisation of services and the expansion of AI technology in providing audit services. Since the end of 2024, a self-developed AI chatbot “Audit GPT”, based on the in-house “Purple GPT”, has been available, which draws on internal sources of knowledge in a protected space to support staff in obtaining information on regulations and application assistance for audits and the documentation of them. 

In the past financial year, the Advisory service line recorded considerable growth in the subservice lines of deal advisory (+35 per cent) and VEDAS (+25 per cent). Technology consulting services was also strategically reorganised; know-how, including in CIO advisory and SAP consulting, was purposely added to the portfolio for digitalisation consulting, AI and cybersecurity. Public sector advisory (PSA) was expanded significantly with many new employees. With its newest Advisory sub-service line “turnaround management”, Grant Thornton is responding to the increased need of customers to master external challenges (price increases, changes to regulations, technological changes, etc.) and internal challenges (outdated business models, inefficient processes, etc.) and supporting companies in strategically reorientating themselves and developing successfully.

The greatest growth rate, of around 88 per cent, was recorded by the Legal service line; here, too, the number of professionals also continued to increase in the past financial year. Going along with this, the service line can point to the success of the strategic expansion of its portfolio, including gaining numerous external experts in the energy sector so that the Legal service line is now able to offer a full-service portfolio for the public sector. For the coming course of growth, the service line’s focus is now on the subservice lines of real estate, financial services and restructuring and reorganisation. 

Digitalisation expertise and ESG know-how for the upper mid-market

Digital transformation is a key topic for sustainable economic success and growth. Within Grant Thornton, a multi-disciplinary team of digitalisation experts from various specialist areas is driving the automation of processes, partly by using its own AI developments. Using the latest technology, digitalisation teams are also working across service lines to constantly improve collaboration with customers and further expand the consulting portfolio.  

The dynamics in ESG (environmental, social, governance) are driven by the EU regulations, among other things, as part of the European Green Deal, which includes the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – despite the current uncertainties surrounding the transposition of the CSRD into German law, which is still outstanding, and the initiative to simplify the ESG reporting duties on the European level. The integration of sustainability into business strategies and consideration by society of ESG beyond the regulations are also leading to a higher need for advisory in the mid-market. The planned EU Omnibus Regulation for ESG regulation can potentially be expected to “debureaucratise” companies’ reporting and publication duties. 

Grant Thornton Germany is consistently expanding its portfolio of sustainability services, from consulting on implementation and the auditing of sustainability reporting all the way to ESG due diligence and consulting for ESG financing issues. The expertise of various specialists is bundled through close cross-service line collaboration in the “One ESG Team”. The Centre of Excellence for Sustainability in the global Grant Thornton network also represents the highest quality in sustainability reporting on the international level.  

“The market and our sector are experiencing unprecedented momentum; the political environment, demographic change, new regulations, particularly regarding sustainability but also digitalisation and artificial intelligence, are drivers that are constantly changing our world. Our aspiration is to actively shape the change”, says Wieland-Blöse. “With our multidisciplinary offerings we have a stable position to continue our course for growth and to offer our employees a working environment that is secure for the future and support our customers as an advisor and full-service provider they can trust.”  

Grant Thornton Germany is a member of the international Grant Thornton network and acts as a legally independent company in Germany. Grant Thornton International was also able to increase its global revenue in the past financial year to a record 8 billion US dollars, which equates to growth of 8.8 per cent when adjusted for currency.

About Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft is one of the ten largest audit firms in Germany, providing services to upper mid-market companies and listed companies, with around 2,000 employees at ten offices. The audit and advisory firm consists of the service lines Audit & Assurance, Tax, Advisory and Legal. The firm is legally independent. To be able to serve national clients internationally as well, the firm is a member of the international Grant Thornton International Ltd network (GTIL). GTIL and its member firms are not a worldwide partnership but legally independent entities. With around 76,000 employees, the Grant Thornton network advises companies in around 156 countries across the world. www.grantthornton.de

Contact

Angela Ott
Head of Corporate Communications
+49 172 8434291
angela.ott@de.gt.com
grantthornton.de

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