Grant Thornton: Building Forecasting Estimates for US Fortune Companies

Vaibhavkirithik joined Grant Thornton INDUS as a Tax Analyst working on US Fortune 2000 and Fortune 500 clients. In his first year, he focused on understanding how to read financial statements sourced from US offices and preparing tax compliance returns.

When he was promoted to Tax Associate, his scope expanded. He began preparing forward-looking financial estimates: projecting revenue, expenses, and profit for the upcoming financial year using prior-year data and estimated growth percentages. These estimates were compiled into data sheets with trial balances and submitted to the US offices, where they were used by client-facing teams to make capital allocation decisions and file advance tax returns.

Early in his tenure, he encountered a complex client with multiple subsidiaries and a tight deadline. His initial submission had gaps in the depreciation calculations and the final tax figure. His senior flagged the issues, and Vaibhavkirithik worked through the night to gather inputs, identify the errors, and resubmit a clean return.

That experience changed how he approached every return. He built a habit of self-reviewing each file before passing it up. Over time, the quality of his work reached a point where the intermediate review level was skipped entirely: the industry owner would pick up his returns directly for final review before sending them to the US.

Across five to six client files, his process improvements contributed to a 15-20% reduction in turnaround time against the estimates provided by the US offices. He received three to four appreciation emails from US-side partners recognizing the quality and efficiency of his work.

By the end of his tenure, he had worked across more than 50 mid-to-large-cap clients, including Saint Gobain Corporation, where he handled returns across approximately 200 subsidiaries spanning glass, energy, and natural resources divisions.