Grant Thornton LLP

Grant Thornton LLP

Type	Limited Liability Partnership
Industry	Accounting Tax Business Advisory Services
Founded	1924; present name and components in 1986
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Key people	J. Michael McGuire, CEO; Billy Moore, CFO
Products	Professional services
Revenue	$1.45 billion USD (2015)
Number of employees	7,281
Website	www.grantthornton.com

Grant Thornton LLP is the American member firm of Grant Thornton International, the sixth largest accounting network in the world by combined fee income. Grant Thornton LLP is the sixth largest U.S. accounting and advisory organization. The firm operates 58 offices across the US with approximately 7,000 employees, 550 partners, and produces annual revenue in excess of US$1.45 billion.

Headquartered in Chicago, Grant Thornton LLP has three service lines: audit, tax, and advisory services. Specific advisory services and areas of expertise include: Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, mergers and acquisitions advice, tax, and business valuations. Target industries include construction, distribution, energy, financial services, food and beverage, health care, hospitality and restaurants, life sciences, manufacturing, not-for-profit organizations, private equity, public sector, real estate, retail, technology, and transportation.

In 1924, Alexander Richardson Grant, a 26 years old senior accountant with Ernst & Ernst (later Ernst & Young) decided to leave the firm and start his own business with William O’Brien. Alexander Grant & Co. was built in Chicago and dedicated to providing quality services for middle market. The firm was growing rapidly and nationally under the guidance of several new leaders during the next three decades.

In 1961, the company established its national office in Chicago and earned net revenue of more than $5 million. During this time, a competitive firm that was also committed to providing services to middle market established in Europe, and this firm later became known as Binder Dijke Otte & Co. (BDO).

During the mid-1960s, the firm decided to expand its business internationally. In 1969, Alexander Grant & Co. merged with companies from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom to form an organization called Alexander Grant Tansley Witt.