R&D consultancy Glasshouse Advisory joins Grant Thornton

Glasshouse Advisory, a boutique consultancy specialised in research & development and tax incentives, has joined Grant Thornton.

The decision to join the accounting and consulting firm concludes a strategic review process launched a few months ago. Glasshouse Advisory was a subsidiary of IPH, an Asia Pacific intellectual property professional services group. As part of IPH’s strategy to focus its activities on its core business, the company’s management decided to find a new and more fit for purpose home for Glasshouse Advisory.

“Since our acquisition of Glasshouse Advisory as part of the Xenith Group in August 2019 we have undertaken a detailed review of the Glasshouse Advisory business and concluded that these aspects of the business would be better placed within a specialist business, more closely aligned to their service offering,” said John O’Shea, a leader at IPH. 

“Grant Thornton is a natural home for these practices and their focus on innovation and R&D will be of huge benefit to the Glasshouse team and their clients,” he added.

The move sees a team of ten transfer to Grant Thornton, led by R&D expert Sandra Boswell. She has more than two decades of experience in the field of R&D incentives and government grant programs, having previously led PwC’s Innovation and Incentives business in ANZ for over 7 years. During her fourteen years at the Big Four, Boswell among others was a Board member of PwC Australia and PwC Asia Pacific.

Commenting on the joining of forces, newly appointed Grant Thornton partner Boswell said, “We support our clients to navigate the complexity of the tax system and we’re excited to have access to the wider tax and advisory expertise at Grant Thornton. It’s a wonderful fit and we have an exciting future. 

For Grant Thornton, the bolt-on deepens its R&D tax incentive capabilities, at a time when the landscape is seeing buoyed demand as businesses look to fast-track their R&D claims to access much needed cash flow amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’re anticipating a busy period for R&D and we’re pleased to welcome the team from Glasshouse to the fold,” said Nicole Bradley, Grant Thornton’s National Managing Partner for Tax. “The enhanced team will be better placed to support existing clients, and to support new clients that may be accessing the incentive for the first time.” 

The deal is Grant Thornton first domestic transaction in years. In 2017, the firm acquired GNC Group Consulting, a Melbourne-based retail consulting firm with around fifty consultants across offices in Melbourne and Sydney. And in 2015, Grant Thornton purchased Consult Point Group to bolster its digital advisory offering.

Grant Thornton Australia has more than 1,300 people working in offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.