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Over the weekend we learned that Grant Thornton was pulling up the stakes in Hawaii. According to our sources, the partners of the Honolulu office will be purchasing the business from GT and joining Pannell Kerr Forster, and international network of independently owned firms (U.S. locations).

GT Honolulu has approximately 60 professionals and according to one source familiar with the situation, all will be retained after the transaction According to our source, Doreen Griffith, the Honolulu Office Managing Partner will be moving to the San Francisco office to lead the tax practice there while Patrick Oki, an assurance partner will head up the new PKF office.

Our source told us that the reaction of the GTers was that of surprise but not upset, “I would say that employees are very happy but shocked.”

Grant Thornton’s disposal of this office follows the closure of its Madison, Wisconsin office, announced just last month and the Greensboro office that we reported on back in February. Several sources have speculated that Grant Thornton is moving out of smaller markets to focus business opportunities in larger markets.

Despite these moves, none of them had been previously mentioned on either of the the firm-wide calls held by Grant Thornton CEO Stephen Chipman held this year.

PKF North America’s President & CEO, Terry Snyder spoke with us briefly about the transaction, confirming that the partners in Honolulu were taking over the business from Grant Thornton and that Mr Oki “was the man to speak to.” He declined to comment on GT exiting the Honolulu market.

Messages left with Patrick Oki, Doreen Griffith and Grant Thronton’s national PR team were not returned. Emails to both Mr Oki and Ms Griffith were not returned.

If you have information on this transition in Honolulu, you can drop us a line at [email protected].