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Press release

Grant Thornton Australia’s response to coronavirus COVID-19

13 Mar 2020

In response to the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring the spread of COVID-19 as a public health emergency, Grant Thornton Australia has implemented a number of actions to help protect the health and wellbeing of our people, clients and contacts, in line with the guidelines issued by the Australian Government and the recommendations issued by the WHO.

For our people

  • As of 13 March 2020 we are encouraging all of our people to prioritise working from home.
  • Grant Thornton Australia people are advised against travelling internationally for personal reasons and must engage with the People & Culture team to help manage risk.
  • Anyone returning from from a high-risk country will self-quarantine / work from home for a minimum of 14 days.
  • Restrict domestic travel to critical business.

For our clients and guests visiting our premises

  • If you have travelled internationally in the last 14 days, we ask you to advise your Grant Thornton contact and conduct virtual meetings or defer the meeting to a later date.
  • We encourage all visitors to adhere to normal handwashing and hygiene practices and to make use of the hand sanitisers we have in each of our offices.
  • If you are feeling unwell when visiting our offices, please inform your Grant Thornton host so we can support you accordingly.
  • Please also let us know if you feel unwell or suspect you may have contracted COVID-19 within 14 days of being in physical contact with any of our people or attended one of our offices.

Working together

  • While we will endeavour to support our clients virtually or remotely, there will still be a need for some of our people to work on-site with clients. If any of our people feel concerned that reasonable steps to proactively prevent the spread of COVID-19 haven’t been taken, they have been directed to speak with their local Partner immediately.
  • If you have a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 and our clients or people may be affected, we ask that you immediately contact your Grant Thornton Partner.
  • We wish to do everything we can to support you during this time and to protect you and your people. Please advise us if you would prefer to have contact via video conference rather than a scheduled meeting and we will gladly adjust to meet your request.
  • As you are no doubt aware, there are increasing calls from the Government for individuals and businesses to take extra steps to minimise the spread of coronavirus COVID-19. We will be deferring all of our client based meetings and events as of 13 March 2020. This may mean conducting meetings or events virtually to ensure we can still share advice and insights with our clients. Other events may be postponed to a later date.

Please read the statement released by Greg Keith, CEO, Grant Thornton Australia here.

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Further enquiries, please contact:

Therese Raft
National Communications Manager
Grant Thornton Australia

T +61 2 8297 2724
E therese.raft@au.gt.com  

Responding to Coronavirus COVID-19

The Coronavirus COVID-19 situation continues to evolve and the advice to businesses on how to respond is constantly being updated.

While there may be some industries that are more directly impacted by the virus – including health and aged care, education and tourism – with international travel and trade suspended, and no way to predict how many people may contract the virus, all industries will face issues around supply chain, workforce and cash flow.

With specialists across business risk, business continuity, workforce, tax, compliance, supply chain and restructuring, we are here to help. This may be an assessment of your risk and cash flow, identifying alternative suppliers, or preparation for meetings with suppliers, banks or the ATO to access additional support or extensions.

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