Background

As one of the major global professional services organisations recognised by capital markets, regulators and international standards setting bodies, Grant Thornton has been built on the basis of transparency, connected thinking and driving real insight.

The global organisation that we recognise today dates to 1904, when Thornton & Thornton was formed in Oxford, UK. Twenty years later and on the other side of the Atlantic, 26-year-old senior accountant Alexander Richardson Grant established Alexander Grant & Co in Chicago, US.

Supporting dynamic organisations has been high on our agenda from the beginning. Thornton & Thornton advised automotive pioneer Morris Motors on its flotation in 1936 and also delivered international audit services before the Second World War.

We took our first steps to becoming a truly global organisation in 1979 when the UK and the US firms set up a new international organisation. Many of the original member firms remain in our global organisation, including the UAE, India, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Singapore.

Seven years later in 1986, the US and UK firms each changed their names to Grant Thornton and in 1997, the first International Business Centre opened to manage our cross-border activity.

 

Grant Thornton in the UAE

In 1966, the UAE member firm, which was founded by our Chairman Farouk Mohamed, joined the Grant Thornton network and has continued to grow exponentially over the last five decades.

We have a long legacy in the region which spans to over 55 years, therefore not only have we supported economic prosperity but have worked to support businesses who have started humbly and which today have become successful and profiled conglomerates.

The UAE practice is supported by over 500 locally-based professionals who are represented by over 50 nationalities, given diversity is a core fundamental to providing a holistic yet varied perspective to our client’s challenges.