Effective global co-ordination supports major overseas growth

Nine years prior to the case study, Mott MacDonald Group was at a crucial stage of its development. The company had grown significantly with new markets and needed a more international approach towards its company audit. The organization was not getting value for money from its Big 4 audit firm; they felt they were too small to really matter. The company needed more attention, a better quality of product and to be big enough to be noticed. When Grant Thornton came on board, Mott MacDonald was still a small organisation, turning over £300 million to £400 million. As the company expanded through acquisitions and geographic diversification, it needed coordinated global audit support across 20 countries. Additionally, the company wanted to reduce the amount of shares held in a trust warehouse while continuing to retain shareholder confidence, as an employee-owned company with 50% of shares in a trust warehouse.

Grant Thornton was chosen as accountants in a competitive audit tender process and built a process to enable centralised reporting on the controls findings of the local audit teams in 20 countries. This timely and co-ordinated global feedback for the Mott MacDonald Board proved essential given the growth in overseas markets. The Grant Thornton team provided attention to detail and responsive service. For acquisitions, Grant Thornton delivered a very tight product focusing on what the client needed to be aware of both during a transaction and afterwards. Regardless of the country being considered, whether a big or small target, Grant Thornton in the UK interacted with teams in other member firms worldwide to deliver a very tight product meeting expectations. For the employee share issue, Grant Thornton helped find the most effective way of reducing the trust warehouse shares. The solution was about far more than just tax—it involved impact on the Group's net worth and distributable profits, and finding an acceptable solution for shareholders that wouldn't be seen as a threat. Grant Thornton provided the Board and shareholders with a number of alternative solutions and helped them select the one which achieved the key objective.

With an increasingly diverse portfolio both geographically and by sector, Grant Thornton provided a tight global audit for Mott MacDonald Group in a period which saw turnover increase from £300 million to £1.3 billion. The company successfully shifted from 70% UK business with 30% overseas to 30% UK business with 70% overseas, with continued emphasis on non-UK growth. Grant Thornton identified and helped realise acquisition opportunities for Mott MacDonald Group, facilitating significant expansion into growth markets. The company materially reduced the shares held by the trust in a manner which was not only cost effective but also met the practical and commercial considerations. The whole audit process became very tightly managed so that by the time of the audit clearance meeting, the CFO knew exactly what the conversation would be, with no surprises.