Financial information

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Worldwide member firm fee income
Worldwide member firm personnel
Top 10 countries by fee income

Background and methodology to financial information
1 Fee income
1.1 Fee income represents the aggregate fee income of the individual member firms.
1.2 Fee income from correspondent firms has been excluded to give a more accurate picture of the real performance of the organisation
1.3 All member firms have reported to a single year-end date (30 September) for consistency and comparability.
1.4 Member firms reported fee income net of local sales taxes.
1.5 Fee income is reported inclusive of rechargeable expenses.

2 Service line performance
2.1 The service line performance represents the core activities of the member firms of the Grant Thornton International organisation and is defined as follows:

• assurance and accountancy
• tax
• specialist advisory services, including, but not limited to, business risk services, forensic and investigation services, recovery and reorganisation and transaction advisory services

2.2 The specialist advisory services of the member firms of the Grant Thornton International organisation include:

• business risk services, advising businesses on the effectiveness of their governance, risk management and internal controls
• corporate finance services, including capital markets, transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and valuation services
• recovery and reorganisation services 
• forensic and investigation services, advising or reporting on companies or individuals in support or defence of legal actions
• public sector advisory services, including services to international development finance agencies and services advising on infrastructure projects whose financing relies solely/principally on the cash lows from that project.

2.3 The other activities of the member firms of the Grant Thornton International organisation include:

• general business advice and consulting services 
• company formation, secretarial and administration and provision of legal advice other than accounting and tax advice.
  

3 Legacy service line performance
3.1 Previously, the core activities of the member firms of the Grant Thornton International organisation were described as follows:

• assurance and accountancy
• taxation compliance and consulting 
• business advice consulting
• recovery and reorganisation
• forensic and investigation services
• corporate finance.

3.2 The other activities of the member firms of the Grant Thornton International organisation were described as:

• company formation, secretarial and administration and provision of legal advice other than accounting and tax advice
• personnel services
• services to international development finance agencies.

3.3 Comparative data for legacy service line performance is not readily available for specialist advisory services and other for 2005 and 2004.

4 Firms
4.1 The Grant Thornton International organisation consists of member firms and correspondent firms. The results reported in this financial report are for member firms only, as Grant Thornton International believes this reflects more clearly the breadth and strength of international accounting organisations. Correspondent firms can appear in the networks of more than one international accounting organisation and therefore there is danger of ‘double-counting’ if their revenues are included by more than one organisation. They are therefore excluded from the performance tables.

5 Mergers during the year
5.1 Some member firms underwent mergers with other firms during the 12 months to the year-end date, with the resultant firm remaining a member firm within Grant Thornton International. In these cases, the fee income for all parties to the mergers has been included for the full 12 months to the year-end date.

6 Termination of member firm agreements
6.1 Certain member firms terminated their membership agreements with Grant Thornton International during the 12 months to the year-end date. In these cases no fee income has been included in the aggregated fee income for the year.

7 Member firm offices
7.1 An office is defined as a single building or collection of buildings in a close geographic area that is treated as a separate administrative entity.
7.2 Office numbers are reported as at 30 September

8 Exchange rate
8.1 Fee income reported by member firms was translated into US dollars using the average inter-bank exchange rate over the 12 months to the year-end date.

9 Member firm partners
9.1 A partner is a proprietor, direct or indirect shareholder, equity or non-equity partner, principal, or any individual who assumes the risks and benefits of member firm ownership, or who is otherwise held out by the member firm to be the equivalent of any of the above.

10 Member firm personnel numbers
10.1 Member firm personnel numbers refer to both partners and staff.
10.2 Member firm personnel numbers are reported as at 30 September.

11 Grant Thornton International
11.1 Grant Thornton International refers to Grant Thornton International Ltd, which is a not-for-profit, non practising, international umbrella membership entity organised as a private company limited by guarantee not having a share capital incorporated in England and Wales. Services are delivered independently by the member and correspondent firms within Grant Thornton International.