Grant Thornton Pilot Projects: Expanding Conflict-Check Research Across Four Countries

Apoorv joined Grant Thornton's conflict-check research function, which involved researching family structures and ownership networks of prospective clients to identify conflicts of interest. The work initially covered GT India and GT Norway, with a colleague running the Norway stream before handing it to Apoorv to own independently.

He ran the Norway engagement solo: day-to-day research operations and quarterly reporting to GT Norway partners on outputs and findings. That experience gave him the foundation to take on something more complex.

When the opportunity arose to extend the service to multiple international GT offices, Apoorv designed and ran all the pilot projects himself, with a director providing oversight. He determined which data sources were appropriate for each jurisdiction, identified the software licenses required, and structured the communication protocols with each overseas team.

Navigating the Belgium Challenge

Belgium presented the hardest problem. Statutory filings from local regulatory bodies were only available in local languages, and automated translation produced unreliable output. Apoorv identified a specialist database as the solution and made the case to switch.

The switch required navigating pushback from senior partners who questioned whether the new tool met compliance standards. Apoorv walked them through how the database sourced its data, demonstrated the reliability and output quality, and secured agreement to proceed.

He also learned, through the friction of those conversations, when to push back on unrealistic timelines and how to communicate constraints clearly to senior stakeholders rather than over-committing and under-delivering.