Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC (太陽有限責任監査法人)
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This entry sits under financial-regulators INDEX. Read it alongside Ey Shinnihon, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu), Kpmg Azsa, PwC Japan LLC (formerly PwC Arata) for the Big 4 comparison, and Financial licenses for the regulatory boundary of the Certified Public Accountants Act / audit quality control. The CPAAOB oversight context falls within the remit of FSA Supervision Bureau and Strategy Development and Management Bureau (FSA Strategy Development and Management Bureau).
1. Firm overview
- Legal name: Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC (limited-liability audit corporation)
- English name: Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC
- Corporate form: limited-liability audit corporation
- Headquarters: Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Member network: Grant Thornton International Limited (headquartered in London)
- Group entities:
- Grant Thornton Taiyo Tax Corporation
- Grant Thornton Taiyo Advisors Co., Ltd. (FAS)
- Grant Thornton Taiyo Risk Advisory Co., Ltd.
2. History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2008-07 | The limited-liability audit corporation system was introduced by the revision of the Certified Public Accountants Act |
| Mid-2010s | Became a Grant Thornton International member firm |
| Late 2010s | ”Grant Thornton Taiyo” brand integration |
| 2020s | Entry into crypto-asset VASP audits, strengthening of IPO support |
IPO-preparation support (greatest strength)
- Audits of companies preparing to list on the TSE Growth market / Standard market
- A major recipient of mid-tier listings where the Big 4 are thin
VASP / crypto-assets
- Strength in financial-statement audits / segregation-of-customer-assets audits of mid-tier VASPs
- Handles cross-border crypto-asset engagements via the Grant Thornton global network
- As mentioned in Japan crypto audit-firm landscape — Big4 + Grant Thornton Taiyo + BDO Sanyu crypto-practice comparison, a representative quasi-major firm alongside the Big 4
- Compliant with the JICPA industry-specific committee practical guidelines 第 61 号
4. Major listed-FG client relationships (public basis)
Grant Thornton Taiyo has strengths in audits of mid-tier listed companies, IPO-preparation companies, and VASPs, but because the auditor of any individual company changes over time, this entry does not enumerate specific client names without a verifiable primary source. The latest information should be checked as needed in the “status of the auditor” section of each company’s securities report on EDINET.
5. Regulation / oversight
- Governing law: Certified Public Accountants Act
- Registration: Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA)
- Oversight: the FSA’s Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board (CPAAOB) conducts quality-control reviews / inspections
- Quasi-major bracket: the CPAAOB categorizes audit firms into “major,” “quasi-major,” and “small-and-medium” to formulate inspection plans. Taiyo is positioned in the quasi-major bracket
Disciplinary history
- 2023-12-26 FSA administrative disposition: on the grounds of false attestation in the financial-document audit of D.D.S., Inc. (the 2017-12 period through the 2022 1 -th quarter), the following were issued against Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC
- Business-suspension order: suspension of business relating to the conclusion of new contracts for 3 months (2024-01-01 to 2024-03-31; the renewal of existing contracts and IPO-related matters were excluded)
- Business-improvement order: improvement of audit execution / review structure / personnel management / quality control (submission of an improvement plan 2024-01-31)
- The engagement-quality-review partner 1 名 was prohibited from involvement in review work for 3 months
- The engagement CPAs 2 名 were each suspended from business for 6 months (2024-01-01 to 2024-06-30)
- 2024-02-29 surcharge-payment order: for the false attestation of financial documents (Article 34 -21 , paragraph 2 of the Certified Public Accountants Act 第 2 号), a surcharge of 95,950,000 円 (payment deadline 2024-04-30)
6. Competitive landscape
| Tier | Firm | Strength axis |
|---|---|---|
| Big 4 | [[financial-regulators/ey-shinnihon | EY 新日本]] / [[financial-regulators/deloitte-touche-tohmatsu |
| Quasi-major (Tier 2) | Grant Thornton Taiyo | Mid-tier listings / IPO / VASP |
| Quasi-major (Tier 2) | BDO Sanyu & Co. | Mid-tier / foreign-affiliated |
| Small-and-medium | PwC Kyoto (former) / many others | Regional / specialized |
Related
- ey-shinnihon (Big 4 peer comparison)
- deloitte-touche-tohmatsu (Big 4 peer comparison)
- kpmg-azsa (Big 4 peer comparison)
- pwc-aarata (Big 4 peer comparison)
- sbi-hd (related-client domain of mid-tier independent FGs — illustrative)
- INDEX (Certified Public Accountants Act / audit system)
- fsa-supervision-bureau (CPAAOB oversight context)
- japan-crypto-audit-firm-landscape (crypto-audit cross-domain)
Sources
- Grant Thornton Taiyo official: https://www.grantthornton.jp/
- Grant Thornton Taiyo firm information: https://www.grantthornton.jp/about/firm/
- Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA): https://jicpa.or.jp/
- FSA Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board (CPAAOB): https://www.fsa.go.jp/cpaaob/
- EDINET: https://disclosure2.edinet-fsa.go.jp/
- FSA, on disciplinary dispositions etc. of audit firms and certified public accountants (Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC, 2023-12-26): https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/sonota/20231226-3/20231226.html
- FSA, on the decision of a surcharge-payment order (Grant Thornton Taiyo LLC, 2024-02-29): https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/r5/shouken/20240228.html
[!info] Verification status confidence: likely (v1.0 based on public sources, 2026-05-24). The positioning as a quasi-major / mid-tier audit firm, Grant Thornton global membership, and the CPAAOB categorization are highly reliable on a public basis. The auditor of any specific client should be confirmed as needed against EDINET primary materials.