-
Business Consulting
Our Business Consulting unit supports you in this process, is very responsive and delivers results quickly.
-
Business Risk Services
Our Business Risk Services team leverage our risk, internal audit and technology subject matter expertise to critically assess your governance, risk and internal control mechanisms, thus helping you to better manage risk and enable more informed decision making.
-
Digital risk
Grant Thornton offers solutions to the digital risk issues you are sure to face. Our skilled and experienced security team can helping by advising and consulting, giving you peace of mind, clear value for money and an enhanced ability to react to attacks.
-
Forensic Accounting
Organisations may undergo some type of dispute or internal investigation during their lifetime. Our Forensic Accounting team can seek evidence that can make the difference between finding the truth or being left in the dark.
-
People and Change Consulting
The Grant Thornton People & Change Consulting practice works with clients on these issues, as well as assisting them on all aspects of how they attract, engage, retain, develop, deploy and lead their people.
-
Actuarial
Grant Thornton offers a broad range of actuarial services across life insurance, non-life insurance, and health insurance. Offering actuarial expertise and integrated services across the evolving data analytics and modelling universe, Grant Thornton provides access to its experts and international network.
-
Aviation Advisory
At Grant Thornton, we have been immersed in the industry throughout a relatively recent period of unparalleled growth resulting in one of the largest aviation advisory teams in Europe. Through the vast experience we have gained, we offer leading expertise across our aviation advisory, aviation tax and aviation audit service lines.
-
Data Analytics
The Grant Thornton Data Analytics team delivers expert solutions to these issues for clients across the banking and financial services sector.
-
Financial Services Consulting
We work closely with clients to understand their strategy and benchmark their performance against the very best international standards across both established and new players in the financial services sector.
-
Fintech
Our Fintech team will be offering you an opportunity to sit with our experienced consultants to discuss your challenges.
-
FS Business Risk Services
Our FS Business Risk Services team comprises of professionals with real experience of the financial services industry, obtained through working within regulatory bodies or holding leadership positions in Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit functions.
-
Prudential Risk
Grant Thornton’s industry leading Prudential Risk team works with clients across the financial services sector on a range of areas including regulatory reporting, regulatory authorisations, on-site investigations and data quality assurance.
-
Quantitative Risk
Our Quantitative Risk team members bring a wide range of experience with many of them having backgrounds in banking, investment markets, regulation, professional practice, and academia.
-
Sustainability desk
We recognise that businesses are operating at different levels of maturity when it comes to sustainability, and pride ourselves on working with our clients to develop bespoke solutions to their exact needs. The prize that awaits those that can adapt to this new reality is a resilient business that can capitalise on the opportunities this change will bring, contributing to a better future for all stakeholders.
-
Company Tax
Our tax team is made up of highly experienced professionals who work with our clients to ensure they are compliant with all aspects of their corporation tax obligations by gaining a deep understanding of the businesses.
-
Global mobility services
Grant Thornton offer a different approach to managing global mobility. We have brought together specialists from our tax, global payroll, people and change and financial accounting teams
-
Indirect Tax
Our Indirect Tax team helps businesses manage their IOM, UK and global indirect tax risks which, as transactional taxes, can quickly become large liabilities.
-
International Tax
We work closely with our colleagues globally to provide a seamless multi-jurisdiction service offering which ensures clients have an appropriate tax structure that mirrors what they are doing operationally – a key consideration in a world where it is no longer possible to separate a company’s tax and operational presences.
-
Private Client
Our team of experienced advisors can assist and navigate you through the tax issues arising when establishing a business, moving to the Island, leaving the island, passing on wealth alongside residence and domicile issues. We can help minimise the impact that taxes, such as income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax, may have upon your personal wealth.

Read our full publication that explains the recognition principles set out in IFRS 3.
For most entities such transactions are infrequent, and each is unique. IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’ contains the requirements for these transactions, which can be challenging in practice. The Standard itself has now been in place for more than ten years and has undergone a comprehensive post implementation review by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
Our ‘Insights into IFRS 3’ series summarises the key areas of the Standard, highlighting aspects that are more difficult to interpret and revisiting the most relevant features that could impact your business. This article explains the recognition principles set out in IFRS 3.
Overview of IFRS 3’s recognition and measurement principles
The acquisition method requires the acquirer, to recognise and measure the acquiree’s identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their acquisition-date fair values, subject to some exceptions. These assets and liabilities usually include assets and liabilities already reported in the acquiree’s financial statements. Applying the acquisition method may, however, also result in recognising assets and liabilities that were not previously reported in the acquiree’s financial statements for instance a brand name, a patent or a customer relationship, as the acquiree developed them internally. IFRS 3’s recognition and measurement principles should be applied to determine which assets and liabilities to recognise and how they should be measured. The identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed should consist of those that:
- belong to the acquiree at the date of acquisition, and;
- form part of what has been acquired by the acquirer.
Most, but not quite all, of these assets and liabilities are measured at fair value at the acquisition date – the so called ‘fair value exercise’. (The term ‘purchase price allocation’ is still frequently used to describe this process although it does not perfectly align with the IFRS 3 accounting model). This fair value exercise is usually a complex and timeconsuming step in accounting for a business combination. Many entities engage outside specialists in the valuation area to provide assistance. In most cases this step requires a good knowledge of the business acquired, careful analysis, extensive use of estimates and management judgement in a number of areas.
Practical insight
-
The objective of this exercise is to identify the main items for which the acquirer made the decision to purchase the business. Establishing the core reasons for making the purchase should help to identify the intangible assets acquired, that is, what did the acquirer get in return for the consideration paid and what they were willing to pay for? For example, was it to gain access to a specific technology, to acquire a trademark with a market share (this is usually associated with a technology, a know-how or a process)?
Refer to our article ‘Insights into IFRS 3 – How should the identifiable assets and liabilities be measured?’ for more details on the fair value exercise.
In an acknowledgement of these challenges, IFRS 3 allows a ‘measurement period’ of up to twelve months from the date of acquisition for the acquirer to complete the initial accounting for the business combination.