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Business valuations
We offer expert valuation advice in transactions, regulatory and administrative matters, and matters subject to dispute – valuing businesses, shares and intangible assets in a wide range of industries.
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Capital markets
You need corporate finance specialists experienced in international capital markets on your side if you’re buying or selling financial securities.
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Complex and international services
Our experience of multi-jurisdictional insolvencies coupled with our international reputation allows us to deliver the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
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Our corporate investigation and recovery teams can help you manage insolvency situations and facilitate the best outcome.
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Debt advisory
An optimal funding structure for your organisation presents unprecedented opportunities, but achieving this can be difficult without a trusted advisor.
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Raising finance
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Relationship property services
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Transaction advisory
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Virtual asset advisory
Helping you navigate the world of virtual currencies and decentralised financial systems.
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Corporate tax
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Global mobility services
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International tax
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Research and Development
R&D tax incentives are often underused and misunderstood – is your business maximising opportunities for making claims?
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Tax compliance
Our advisers help clients manage the critical issue of compliance across accountancy regulations, corporation law and tax. We also offer business and wealth advisory services, which means we can provide a seamless and tax-effective offering to our clients.
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Mitigate tax risks and implement best practice governance that will stand up to IRD scrutiny and audits.
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Audit methodology
Our five step audit methodology offers a high quality service wherever you are in the world and includes planning, risk assessment, testing internal controls, substantive testing, and concluding and reporting
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Financial reporting advisory
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Business architecture
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Cloud services
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Internal audit
Our internal audits deliver independent assurance over key controls within your riskiest processes, proving what works and what doesn’t and recommending improvements.
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IT advisory
Our hands on product experience, extensive functional knowledge and industry insights help clients solve complex IT and technology issues
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IT privacy and security
IT privacy and security should support your business strategy. Our pragmatic approach focuses on reducing cyber security risks specific to your organisation
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Payroll assurance
Our specialist payroll assurance team can conduct a review of your payroll system configuration and processes, and then help you and your team to implement any necessary recalculations.
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PCI DSS
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Process improvement
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Project assurance
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Risk management
We understand that growing companies need to establish robust internal controls, and use information technology to effectively mitigate risk.
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Robotic process automation (RPA)
RPA is emerging as the most sophisticated form of automation used to help businesses become more agile and remain competitive in the face of today’s ongoing digital disruption.
Budget 2016: cyber security move needs follow up
At the recent Cyber Security Summit in Auckland, new measures including a national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and a credentials scheme for business were announced. Like most new endeavours, the implementation will present a number of challenges and even more opportunities to build on these positive steps.
At the summit, Prime Minister John Key made a pre-Budget announcement confirming a $22 million investment in the CERT. Summit host, Minister for Communications, Amy Adams said the CERT would have an appointed public and private sector advisory board reporting directly to her. To enable a fast-start, the CERT will initially be housed within the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. Minister Adams also confirmed that a cyber-credentials scheme would be up and running by the end of this year.
The CERT will rely on building trust with business to contribute information about their security breaches, with no mandatory reporting, and a business and public sector community capable of understanding and using this information. At the Cyber Security Summit, keynote speaker from Google, Richard Salgado, was among those who noted that while mandatory reporting occurs overseas, it isn’t necessarily more effective. Anyone with a major bank account or user of a service is likely to be made aware of a breach. As Richard says, “it is more important to ask, what are you going to do about it?”
Many SMEs rely on outsourced technology support to secure their systems and data. Of course there are also variances in contracting service providers – when you don’t know what good looks like, it isn’t always easy to know what to look for. The next initiative the Government should pursue through future budgets is to support and fund certification processes that would help inform businesses who the best technology providers are.
In New Zealand, and many other parts of the world, we tend to focus on technology, systems and hardware. But a locked-down security environment is where we tend to see the worst behaviours – people will find ways to work around this; for example, your colleague who emails documents home, or the vendor who provides content on a USB plugged straight into your hardware.
Focusing purely on technology and systems will never be fully effective – organisations must also turn their attention to their people and the processes supporting them. Human error or “wetware” is still the biggest weaknesses in any cyber security defence. Education and understanding supports good systems in place – and growing the understanding and capability of cyber security would be a great Government investment. The more leadership teams understand and support security, the better and more likely their organisations are to improve their understanding and reaction to the changing threats. If we achieve this, then the information provided by a CERT would be well used.
We also can’t rely on our physical isolation as a protective measure. That didn’t work for the flightless bird that used to exist here … and it won’t work for cyber security. New Zealand has an opportunity to not only catch up with the rest of the world but to actually become better when it comes to cyber security.
Further enquiries, please contact:
Hamish Bowen
Partner, IT Audit and Advisory
Grant Thornton New Zealand
T +64 (0)4 495 1539
E hamish.bowen@nz.gt.com