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Grant Thornton International Ltd today announced global revenues of USD5.72 billion for the financial year ended 30 September 2019, up 5.1% on 2018. This result represents growth of 6.4% in constant currency terms.

Growing businesses that send their greatest assets – their people – overseas to work can face certain tax burdens, our global guide highlights the common tax rates and issues associated with working abroad for both employee and employer.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Kodak and Fujifilm battled for supremacy in the point-and-shoot camera film market. But both companies saw the writing on the wall — digital cameras were going to change the way the world snapped photos.

OECD’s scaled back digital tax plans leave local jurisdictions to fill in the gaps.

The workplace is evolving. The leadership skills that will be needed within the dynamic mid-market, and how organisations can stay competitive is changing.

Market sentiment continues to be very negative. The dominant view is that the global cycle is nearing its end and that there are significant risks that could make the situation considerably more complicated going forward. We, however, continue to believe that there are sound reasons to expect global growth to remain healthy during 2019.

As the digitalisation of the economy continues to create challenges for global taxation, a number of bodies have started to plan and execute the implementation of a digital services tax (DST).

The question is no longer whether blockchain will disrupt the tax system, but how far, how fast and how to ensure your business is up to speed. Putting the hype aside, what does blockchain really mean for tax compliance and management within your business? What are the main risks and opportunities? How can you begin preparing for the shake-up ahead?

Whether it’s robotics, artificial intelligence or the cloud, advances in technology present a golden opportunity for the finance function. But what’s the best way to maximise potential gains: an enterprise-wide solution, or a more targeted approach?

Despite all the noise (Italy, Trump’s trade policy, emerging markets, etc.), the global economy’s reflation process continues and will become more and more evident. Long-term interest rates are therefore going to have to move upwards significantly. In terms of other issues, although we still think that the tightening of global financial conditions can take place in an orderly manner, the fact that overheating risks in the US continue to edge up increases the likelihood that we will experience volatility in the markets.

Research from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) reveals that business leaders globally are less optimistic about the economic outlook than at the start of the year, despite continuing rises in expected revenues. The dip in optimism suggests that the global economic cycle may have peaked. Business leaders should therefore consider using increased revenue to structurally invest at this stage of the cycle to ensure long-term prosperity.

Despite all the talk about geopolitical risks, the outlook for the global economy continues to be positive: the US is very strong, the European slowdown seen during the first months of the year has been temporary (see, for example, the May employment data) and most emerging economies have solid foundations. Even though spare capacity is being eliminated somewhat quickly and upward pressures on prices and wages are becoming increasingly evident, markets remain convinced that we live in a world with very little inflation, where interest rates are set to remain low permanently.