Public companies and capital markets

Today, Grant Thornton serves as the auditor for more than 425 SEC - issuer audit clients.  More than 800 public companies are clients of our tax and advisory practices, including 53% of the companies that make up the components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Our experience and dedication to customer service help clients access market windows for equity, debt, sale, merger and acquisition transactions.

Capital markets experience

Over the past six years, Grant Thornton has worked with every one of the top 20 investment banks to help clients raise capital. On behalf of our clients, we work with and are accepted by the major rating agencies and regulatory bodies.

Grant Thornton International Ltd member and correspondent firms are active in the major world markets and accepted by the major securities regulators everywhere.  Our access to these resources allows us to support more listing choices for our clients. In fact, Grant Thornton UK LLP audits several regulatory and public interest bodies in the UK and is also the largest auditor of AIM listed companies, one of the most successful growth markets in the world. Senior advisors at Grant Thornton maintain key relationships with management at the NYSE Euronext, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Strong relationships with underwriters

Grant Thornton’s services to public companies are embraced by investors and accepted by the Commitment Committees of all major investment banks. We understand that the biggest cost to any company is the failure to make a “market window.” Consequently, we pride ourselves on delivering the most responsive service in the marketplace.

From 2004-2009 Grant Thornton worked on numerous successful initial public offerings that were book-run and approved by the commitment committees of every one of the top 20 underwriters (based on number of book-run corporate equity offerings*) including:

Banc of America Securities LLC	JP Morgan Chase & Co.	Piper Jaffray & Co.
Citi Group Markets Inc.	Jefferies & Company, Inc.	Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Cowen and Company, LLC	Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.	RBC Capital Markets Corporation
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC	Lehman Brothers Inc. (Barclays Capital)	Thomas Weisel Partners LLC
Deustche Bank Securities Inc.	Merrill Lynch & Co	UBS Securities LLC
Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc	Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated	Wachovia/ Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC
Goldman Sachs & Co.	Oppenheimer & Co.

*2004-2009, Dealogic

Experienced with SEC issues
Our experience with the SEC and public company issues is substantial. Many Grant Thornton professionals have direct SEC experience or are involved with specific SEC issues. This experience has allowed us to understand the regulatory body's issues and concerns so that we can address them as soon as they arise. Our involvement with the SEC and public company issues includes partners and/or managers who have been active with:

• NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council;
• AICPA Professional Practice Executive Committee;
• Governing Board of the Center for Audit Quality, which comprises leaders from the public company auditing firms, the American Institute of CPAs and the investor and issuer communities;
• National Peer Review Committee (NPRC);
• FASB Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council;
• SEC Regulations Committee, a key Center for Audit Quality committee that meets periodically with the staff of the SEC to discuss emerging technical accounting and reporting issues relating to SEC rules and regulations; and
• PCAOB Standing Advisory Group (SAG).