The merger, which will be effective 1 March 2018, will see Grant Thornton’s offices come under the BDO brand.

The merged firm will have 413 professional staff, including 35 partners and directors, across both Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Of that number, 287 staff and 24 partners and directors come from Grant Thornton, and bring BDO’s total staff complement to just over 1,000 people. In all, Grant Thornton has 719 staff and 66 partners and directors in South Africa. 

Services offerings provided by the offices include audit, company secretarial, business services and advisory, corporate finance, cyber lab, economic incentives, HR advisory, internal audit and forensics, legal services, risk advisory, tax, tech advisory, and wealth advisory.

Grant Thornton has eight other locations across South Africa. The departing firm leaves Grant Thornton on 28 Feb 2018 and is operating as Grant Thornton until that date. Thereafter, a new Grant Thornton office will open in Cape Town on 1 March 2018, the firm said. 

BDO South Africa CEO, Mark Stewart, said: ‘The demand for in-depth expertise is increasing, with technical and industry advice in high demand. Critical to this merger is our ability to scale up and to leverage the opportunities created by the changes in the auditing profession, including the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation. BDO South Africa will now be in a far stronger position to take advantage of opportunities in the market and to provide a significant alternative to the competition.’

Report by Calum Fuller