While partners at Grant Thornton Australia prepare for a windfall of $5 million each after their deal with New Mountain Capital-backed Grant Thornton US goes through, things are going down a bit differently across the pond a year and a half after GT UK’s deal with Cinven was announced.
Profits at Grant Thornton UK fell by almost 80 per cent in the accounting group’s first year under private equity ownership.
One-off bonus awards linked to Cinven’s buy-out just over a year ago, plus fees related to the deal and an enduring slowdown in the consulting market all ate into Grant Thornton’s profits last year.
Newly filed accounts show that revenues at Britain’s sixth-largest audit firm rose 4 per cent to £787.1 million last year, up from £759 million in 2024. However, pre-tax profits declined 78 per cent to £32 million, from £143.6 million.
GT UK’s “one-off” profit bites included £156.4 million ($211 million USD) in “exceptional bonuses” and £26.2 million ($35 million) in fees paid to the lawyers and bankers who made the Cinven deal happen. You can see it all laid out here in the detailed financial statements report [PDF]:
For 2025, average partner comp at GT UK was £686k ($927k USD) per, up from £682k the prior year.
In the news release announcing their 2025 financial results, Grant Thornton UK patted themselves on the back for making the bold decision to sell a 60% stake to private equity, as if that’s a unique thing 1,000 accounting firms haven’t already done:
In 2025, Grant Thornton UK chose momentum over convention.
At a time when much of the professional services market stood still, the firm made a deliberate, defining decision: to build the business that its clients and its people need today and in the future. The result is a new chapter of growth, investment and ambition, powered by bold choices and long-term thinking.
The most significant of those choices was the firm’s partnership with Cinven. Becoming the largest UK professional services firm to take external investment marked the start of a fundamental transformation, reshaping how Grant Thornton grows, invests and competes.
Part of this competition strategy has evidently involved gobbling up Grant Thorntons across the globe before their US cousins are able to do it first. So far GT US appears to be winning that fight, mathematically speaking anyway.