The Grant Thornton Germany Whistleblowing System

The Grant Thornton Germany Whistleblowing System takes legal compliance very seriously. That’s why we go about our duty to keep both legal and company regulations (compliance) systematically. At the same time, we realise that even the best compliance management cannot always prevent isolated breaches of regulations. But this does not mean that we are prepared to accept them. Rather, we strive to tackle them and clear them up as best we can, and to learn from them for the future. This is the only way we can optimise our compliance management and reduce the likelihood of incidents of non-compliance in future.

For this reason, we support the reporting of breaches of compliance through our whistleblowing system, which we run for Grant Thornton AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Grant Thornton Germany GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, registered in Stuttgart, WPG Wohnungswirtschaftliche Prüfungs- und Treuhand GmbH Stuttgart, ATS Allgemeine Treuhand GmbH and Trinavis GmbH & Co. KG. All reports are received by the Grant Thornton AG Compliance Committee and investigated objectively with the requisite professional expertise. At the same time, all forms of penalising reports made in good faith is not allowed. Whistleblowers acting in good faith may not be subject to adverse treatment or retaliation of any kind.

We give whistleblowers a number of different ways to report concerns:

On the page below, you can access the online Grant Thornton Germany whistleblowing system:

Whistleblowing System

Using this system whistleblowers may report breaches of compliance confidentially or anonymously, as required. Reports are conveyed directly to our Compliance Committee. The whistleblowing system also enables communication between the whistleblower and the Compliance Committee, while at the same time protecting the whistleblower’s anonymity.

No misuse of the whistleblowing system

At the same time, improper use of the whistleblowing system is not tolerated. We therefore point out that deliberately reporting untrue allegations about third parties may be a criminal offence.

Other reporting possibilities

Besides the online whistleblowing system, reports may also be handed in to:

Grant Thornton AG
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Compliance Committee / confidential
Johannstraße 39
40476 Düsseldorf

Additionally, the following email may be used for reporting:

compliance@de.gt.com

When contacting the Compliance Committee in writing, please make sure that the details you give are as accurate as possible, including the company concerned and the persons and matters involved. If you have evidence of the claims you are making, please attach this evidence to your letter or email.

Furthermore, our employees may always contact their supervisor with any reports of misconduct at any time.

Data Protection

We are obliged to protect personal data. This includes ensuring all the rights of data subjects, including the rights of those against whom whistleblowers allege breaching compliance. This also includes the right of access to all the personal data of data subjects processed in connection with the report. In general, data subjects’ interests in accessing these data will take second place until the investigation into the report has been concluded. After the investigation is concluded, however, access to these data will typically be granted. We therefore recommend all whistleblowers take this into account when making a report. This applies in particular if they wish to remain anonymous.

For further information on data protection, please refer to the data privacy policy on this website.

Exemption from confiscation

Finally, please note that the members of the Compliance Committee are obliged to keep confidential all information made available to them via the whistleblowing system or in another other way. However, this information is not generally exempt from confiscation, i.e., investigators or other authorities may confiscate and thus access this information by virtue of a court order.