Where local strategic advisors align

At Doane Grant Thornton, we’re about more than just business—we build lasting relationships rooted in a deep commitment to the people we serve and the places we call home. Founded more than 85 years ago in Halifax, NS, our firm has grown into one of Canada’s most trusted professional services providers—supporting dynamic privately owned, publicly listed, and public sector organizations across the country.

Our 3,000 colleagues across Canada have the breadth and depth of expertise in assurance, tax, and advisory services that’s needed to support your clients in overcoming their challenges and seizing on their opportunities. And as part of the Grant Thornton International network, we’re able to support your client’s growth plans wherever they lead.   

Our services

Assurance, Audit and Review

  • Financial statement audit
  • Review engagements
  • Compilations and notice to reader engagements
  • Agreed-upon audit procedures
  • Compliance and other attestation engagements
  • Service organization reporting and internal controls audit

Accounting advisory

  • IFRS, ASPE, ASNPO, PSAS, US GAAP and pension plans
  • Complex accounting transaction
  • Small business accounting and compliance
  • Cloud accounting and bookkeeping

         o    Internal Controls, planning, scoping analysis & documentation

         o    Assessment of inherent risk

         o    Walk-throughs and testing of existing controls

         o    Evaluation of potential control gaps

         o    Remediation of deficiencies

Tax planning and compliance

  • Corporate reorganizations
  • Asset transfers
  • Amalgamations and wind-ups
  • Corporate share capital restructuring
  • Annual planning and compliance services for both taxable and tax-exempt entities
  • Tax due diligence on M&A transactions

Research and development, government incentives

  • SR&ED claims
  • Digital media tax credit claims
  • Other government grants, loans, and incentives
  • Program compliance and documentation support
  • Audit defense and dispute resolution

Indirect tax

  • Audit support, defense and management
  • Health checks (compliance and recovery reviews)

US corporate tax

Planning

  • Tax structuring of US expansion
  • Permanent establishment and nexus studies
  • US tax minimizing planning
  • US acquisition planning and due diligence
  • US capital structure planning
  • FATCA advisory and implementation
  • Audit defense – both IRS and state

Compliance

  • Preparation of US federal and state tax returns 
    (corporate and partnership)
  • Preparation and review of US tax provisions
  • Preparation of US withholding tax forms

Cross-border personal tax

  • Cross-border tax planning solutions
  • Global mobility services
  • US personal tax compliance

International tax

Inbound

  • Determine whether activities in Canada create a taxable nexus
  • Structure both new and existing Canadian investments
  • Establishment of exit strategies
  • Management of withholding tax
  • Repatriate structures from Canada
  • Finance Canadian operations or acquisitions
  • Navigate compliance matters

Outbound

  • Taxation of foreign earnings before repatriation to Canada
  • Repatriation
  • Acquisitions and divestitures
  • Reorganizations
  • Compliance

Succession & estate planning

  • Facilitation
  • Business succession planning
  • Trust planning (Includes safeguarding assets, reducing probate fees, and holding shares in a family-owned company)
  • Domestic and cross-jurisdictional tax minimization strategies
    Will planning and review
  • Post-mortem planning (Includes avoiding double taxation)
  • Asset disposition & charitable gift planning

Tax reporting & advisory

  • Identify tax-related risks and opportunities
  • Integrate tax reporting obligations
  • Optimize tax processes through automation tools
  • Coordinate global tax compliance through 

GTI member network

  • Manage compliance risks
  • Develop tax-efficient business strategies

Transfer pricing

  • Plan tax-efficient international business structures
  • Price related party transactions, including providing support in respect of interest rates used on intercompany funding arrangements
  • Implementation of pricing policies in your financial systems
  • Prepare Master File/Local File contemporaneous documentation
  • Navigate international tax audit disputes and Competent Authority matters with tax authorities, including seeking double taxation relief
  • Post-merger integration of transfer pricing policies
    Migrate intellectual property offshore

For organizations

  • Tax compliance and advisory services
  • Strategic assignment planning
  • Cost management and budgeting
  • Coordination of global compliance and advisory services
  • Global compensation, pension and benefit planning

For employees

  • Arrival and departure briefings and compliance
  • Assistance with assessments and audits
  • Tax equalization and protection reconciliation
  • Knowledge of the overall impact of their assignment on their tax lives

Transactions

Capital advisory

  • Refinancing 
  • Acquisition financing 
  • Financial forecast and projections 
  • Financing proposals 
  • Navigating financial difficulty
  • Complex lending deals 

Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures

  • Preliminary pricing analysis 
  • Liquidity analysis
  • Management buyouts
  • Identify prospective buyers or acquisition targets
  • Support to prepare go-to-market materials
  • Coordinate internal and external advisors
  • Negotiation support, completion of all closing details
  • Recapitalizations
  • Financial modeling & analysis

Transaction advisory services

  • Buy-side financial due diligence & quality of earnings
  • Sell-side due diligence & quality of earnings
  • Post-close transaction support
  • Integrated due diligence (Includes tax, HR, operations & supply chain, internal control, cybersecurity & IT, background investigations, synergy assessments)

Valuations

  • Understand the fair market value of your business
  • Shareholder disputes (Includes dissent and oppression remedies)
  • Business transition support
  • Succession planning
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Purchase price allocation (tangible assets, identifiable intangible assets and goodwill)
  • Goodwill impairment testing
  • Fairness opinions
  • Personal injury and loss quantification

Complex Financial Instrument Pricing

  • Fair market valuation of financial instruments (loans, bonds, preferred stock), derivatives (options, employee stock options, swaps, and forwards/futures), other complex financial arrangements (hybrid or combined instruments)
  • Determination of synthetic credit rating and risk-adjusted rates (Includes the incremental borrowing rate under IFRS 16)
  • Hedge effectiveness assessments
  • Credit and counterparty, market risk, and liquidity risk management
  • Stress testing of capital and funding plans
  • Financial risk strategy, appetite, tolerance & limits

Consulting

  • Digital transformation
  • Financial transformation
  • Human capital management
  • Operational transformation
  • Social and public sector consulting

Restructuring

  • Formal corporate insolvency filings
  • Turnaround and restructuring
  • Viability and financial reviews
  • Business plans
  • Accelerated M&A
  • Strategic performance review
  • Division I and Division II proposals

Forensics

  • Anti-money laundering (AML)

         o    Compliance program review & testing

  • Forensics investigations and litigation & data analytics

         o    Fraud investigations

         o    Forensic accounting, including digital forensics

         o    Litigation, dispute or loss quantification support

         o    Integrating data analysis

         o    Resolving data analysis issues

         o    Money laundering investigations

  • Investigative research

         o    Due diligence/background investigations for M&A, investments, partnerships, etc.

  • Whistle-blower reporting solutions

Cybersecurity 

  • Services are offered through a strategic alliance with VARS Corporation, part of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton