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Audit of annual and consolidated financial statements
Objectivity, expertise and experience are crucial when it comes to assurance services. And above all developing a strong working relationship with our clients is the foundation of our service approach.
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Assurance related advisory services
Assurance related advisory services are based on the knowledge and expertise that are the staff of life of our auditors.
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Global audit technology
We apply our global audit methodology through an integrated set of software Tools.
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Accounting related consulting
Accounting in accordance with UGB, US-GAAP or IFRS is in constant motion. The integration of new regulations into their own accounting systems poses special challenges for companies.
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Corporate Taxes
Experts at Grant Thornton Unitreu have many years of experience and provide the full spectrum of tax services. They are familiar with the specifics of the Austrian market in all aspects of tax and economic law. Tax consultants at Grant Thornton Unitreu take pride in developing and concluding effective and individual solutions.s.
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International Tax
Our teams have in-depth knowledge of the relationship between domestic and international tax laws.
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Transfer pricing
The laws surrounding transfer pricing are becoming ever more complex, as tax affairs of multinational companies are facing scrutiny from media, regulators and the public
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Value Added Tax (VAT)
Experts at Grant Thornton Unitreu have many years of experience and provide the full spectrum of tax services. They are familiar with the specifics of the Austrian market in all aspects of tax and economic law. Tax consultants at Grant Thornton Unitreu take pride in developing and concluding effective and individual solutions.s.
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Private Wealth
Our experienced Private Wealth Team distinguishes itself through its long-term and trustworthy advice to private clients, owner-managed companies and private foundations.
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Real Estate Consulting
Real estate, buy-side tax due diligence when purchasing real estate by (i) acquiring shares in real estate companies (share deal) or by (ii) purchasing real estate directly (asset deal)
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Global Mobility Services
Assignment management is a task with many aspects and many contact persons. For successful expatriate management you need not only a local tax consultant, but a network, which successfully cooperates across borders. Grant Thornton has member companies in more than 130 countries with Global Mobility experts who regularly exchange information.
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Bookkeeping & Financial accounting
Financial accounting is the basis for many decisions in the company. Only those who prepare their figures clearly and get a good overview of their company can recognize weak points in time and react to negative developments. The use of state-of-the-art software (BMD) allows you to access your figures at any time. Digital document management and a document management system for data archiving are a matter of course. We take care of your financial accounting.
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Preparation of annual & consolidated financial statements
Depending on the size of your company and the legal form chosen, you are obliged to prepare annual financial statements. In addition, shareholders, owners and management want to be provided with financial information on a regular basis. We support you in fulfilling your recording obligations and thus ensure that you present companies, the bank and other addressees with meaningful and reliable figures.
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Payroll Services
Payroll services are among the subject areas that are changing rapidly and constantly gaining in complexity. This is where tax law, social security law, labour law, residence law and other legal matters come together. Our experts will help your team to stay up-to-date and solve complex issues. But we are also happy to take care of your entire payroll accounting.
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Tax Compliance
Tax authorities keep entrepreneurs and freelancers constantly engaged with tax issues, so they play a central role in almost every business decision. Depending on your needs, our services range from the preparation of tax returns, the execution of tax calculations with a thorough review of the data as a basis for assessment, to international tax compliance for several countries.
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Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software-based technology that mimics a series of activities within and between systems based on a set of instructions typically to complete a process.
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Valuation
Our business consulting services can help you improve your operational performance and productivity, adding value throughout your growth life cycle.
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Transaction Support
We can support you throughout the transaction process – helping achieve the best possible outcome at the point of the transaction and in the longer term.
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Merger & Acquisition
M&A, Merger & Acquisition
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Restructuring & Going Concern Forecast
Recovery & Reorganization
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IT Audit
Increasing networking and digitalisation are bringing about far-reaching changes in the business world. Modern accounting is no longer conceivable without complex IT systems. At the same time, however, this also increases the risks for companies, especially when handling data. Confidentiality, availability and integrity of data are central security requirements that must also be met with regard to the correctness of IT-supported accounting. Our IT auditors are experts in operational IT operations and develop targeted measures for you to counteract risks and to check the security and reliability of your IT systems.
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Internal Audit
Internal Audit helps companies and organisations to achieve their goals by analysing and evaluating the effectiveness of risk management, controls and management and monitoring processes. Internal Audit focuses on independent and objective audit (assurance) and consulting services that improve the value creation and business activities of your company.
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Special Attestation
At present, practically all types of IT services can be outsourced to service providers. Advancing technological developments, especially the possibilities for virtualizing server systems, are a major driver for companies to increasingly outsource IT services. Frequently, nested outsourcing structures can also be found in which service companies outsource certain IT services to subcontractors.
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Expert dispute resolution & advisory
Grant Thornton Austria offers comprehensive services in the field of business-oriented expert services with a broad range of competencies from banking to communication. The core activity of experts is the objective recording of findings and the preparation of expert opinions - regardless of all external circumstances. Our experts Gottwald Kranebitter and Georg H. Jeitler, as sworn and court-certified experts, ensure that the highest professional standards and the principle of objectivity are observed.
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Crisis Management
Crisis Management
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Blockchain & Crypto-Assets
Blockchain as a carrier technology for crypto currencies and smart contracts, among other things, is becoming increasingly important. Grant Thornton Austria offers comprehensive audit and confirmation services for block chain technologies and business models.
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Corporate & Brand Strategy
We can support you throughout the transaction process – helping achieve the best possible outcome at the point of the transaction and in the longer term.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents extreme challenges to businesses and the competitive landscape will be a hot bed of innovation, quick pivots, divestments and acquisitions as businesses devise new models to recover growth.
Businesses need to understand where their products and services fit within the new marketplace, and emerging competitors can quickly usurp incumbents when their offering is better suited to the changing market demands.
Ian Pascoe, managing partner of Grant Thornton Thailand, says: "It's important to remember every unexpected event creates new opportunities. Your direct competitors were likely as unprepared as you for the COVID-19 pandemic. If your supply chains were interrupted, theirs probably were too – and a competitive advantage awaits whichever business develops the more effective solution."
Check your mirrors for emerging competitors
Tony Markwell, managing partner private advisory Grant Thornton Australia, says: "You could find that new competition is doing things completely different from what they've done before as they try to jump into your market. How likely are they to undercut you? Are businesses outside your traditional industry going to change what they're doing? Suddenly you may find you've got competitors you never had before. If you're in a good industry, it doesn't take long for other people to find out you're in a good industry and decide they want to diversify and take a share of it."
Maintaining your existing competitive edge requires businesses to exemplify their strengths and differences – whether it be price, quality or customer service – and clearly articulate their superiority over other brands. Any permanent innovations or enhancements made to product or service – such as free or faster delivery times – need to be communicated, so they cut through to customers as efficiently as possible.
Use alternative data to understand your market position
Businesses need to be on top of what their competitors, and their industry as a whole, are doing to inform management decisions – such as where to take advantage of customer attrition, where to find newly available talent or when to move defensively through divesting non-core operations. At the same time, they need to be mindful that their competitors will also be gathering competitive intelligence.
Pallavi Bakhru, chartered accountant at Grant Thornton India in New Delhi, says: "People have realised that data can give you a lot of information. They are sharp enough to ask, 'If you run analytics, what is the information that you can give me that'll help me make better decisions?'"
There are plenty of market intelligence sources, reports and dashboards that will be invaluable to your understandings of the competitor landscape and your position in the market. However, smart businesses are increasingly looking to alternative data to build a more complete picture of their competitors. This might include monitoring intellectual property filings and job advertisements to understand product development and strategy.
Equally, conducting sentiment analysis on public statements and company communications or monitoring search trends or social interactions with customers can also help you glean business confidence and levels of customer advocacy. Similarly, there may be ways of using third-party services in your supply chain to gain useful competitive information. For example, in the hospitality industry, a close analysis of booking platforms can indicate how well a hotel or restaurant is managing its capacity.
Start scanning for strategic opportunities
The macro-economic challenges affected global M&A levels and, at the start of the pandemic, many planned transactions were stalled. But deal flow is beginning to pick up again with the new trading environment providing opportunities for acquisitive funds and businesses. During these difficult months, some direct competitors or suppliers may be under stress and struggling. Distressed assets and low valuations may provide suitable targets for acquisitions now or at a later date.
Matthew Woodgate, director at Grant Thornton UK, says: "Companies that have emerged from the crisis weaker are considering their . Some companies are looking to divest non-core businesses and ensure their business models are 'future-fit', and some opportunistic acquisitions are taking place."
Being mindful of those potential targets, and being prepared and poised for any possible transaction will allow you to move rapidly when the time is right. You will need a clear sense of how that acquisition supports your strategy, and those targets align or complement your manufacturing or operating capabilities.
Prepare to pivot your business quickly
One encouraging aspect of the pandemic has been businesses’ ability to pivot very quickly to where the demand is. That will only continue as global and regional economies recover.
Bakhru says: "Indian passenger airlines got grounded in the pandemic. There were no domestic or international flights. So what some of the smarter private airlines did is to move into cargo hauling. They quickly converted aircraft for carrying cargo, because suddenly, there were supplies needed, medicines and ventilators that had to be moved within the country."
"One airline started it, and within two months, everybody started doing it. Normally what happens is competitors always have an eye on each other. There'll be somebody who will be the first one to hit the market and capture the largest share, then the rest will follow."
Businesses will need to weigh up the short-term and long-term market scenarios and have plans in place which they can execute with speed. Part of that includes examining your and your competitors' customer base and assessing if you are addressing the right demand and the right customers that will put you ahead or protect you from the competition. Markwell says: "If you find you have a customer base you really shouldn't have, now may be the time to chase the customer base you need to have. Bear in mind your competitors might be a bit slow to shore up their customer base."
Like Formula 1 teams attempting to overtake their rivals, they will know the optimum conditions and point on the track at which their car can outperform their competitors. In the same way, businesses must plan for the opportunities to get ahead and seize the moments when they come around. They need to constantly survey the track ahead and be ready to move position and accelerate forwards when the time is right. To do that, businesses must develop a deep understanding of the market’s dynamics and how their competitors are adapting to it.
Speak to our expert Werner Leiter to help you manage the opportunities and threats in your market.