Bangkok--28 Sep--Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton UK was recently selected by the Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), to pull together the findings from Olympic-related research projects and assess the impact and legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games that have just ended in early September, aiming to deliver a lasting legacy for the UK.
The Games involve more than 200 countries, over 10,500 Olympic athletes, more than 4,200 Paralympic athletes, over 14,000 officials, 26 Olympic sports taking place in 34 venues and 20 Paralympic sports taking place in 21 venues.
The meta-evaluation is arguably the first truly comprehensive evaluation of an Olympic Games and will enable UK’s Government to understand and demonstrate the long-term impact of the Games to help ensure current and future programmes provide value for money. It will pull together the results of evaluations of individual legacy programmes, projects and initiatives, and use these along with additional research to evaluate the overall legacy of the Games. It will aim to address overarching questions such as the impact of the Games on the UK economy and on the uptake of sport.
Stephen Gifford, Grant Thornton UK Chief Economist, who is the project leader said “Completing the meta-evaluation of the 2012 games is a huge task. We broke the project down to four themes; sport, economy, community engagement and regeneration and four impact areas; geography, diversity, outcomes and value for money and from this we were able to build our framework for the project. There are a number of challenges to this evaluation not least the interdependency of different projects and the challenge of separating games investment from existing regeneration projects.”
A post Games initial evaluation will be published shortly after the Games, in spring/summer 2013. Further research will be commissioned separately to look at the effect of the Games up to around 2020.
Ian Pascoe, Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Thailand, said: “It’s more often the case that developed economies will have the venues, transport and technology infrastructure already in place for any major event. Capital investment required to build new infrastructure is therefore much more limited in these economies, compared with the level of investment required in emerging markets such Thailand, or Brazil, the host for the next Olympic Games. It is generally understood that holding a major sporting event gives an emerging economy a global "shop window", allowing it to present and market what it has to offer to a massive worldwide audience. Thailand should take this into serious consideration in order to attract investment to its economy. With the popularity of Thailand, it would be in very strong contention to host major international sporting events. In addition to stepping into the race to host these events, the Thai Government and relevant sectors should also consider forming an evaluation project similar to the one of the UK Government.”
About Grant Thornton Thailand
Grant Thornton Thailand is well recognised by the business community as one of the leading professional service firms in Thailand since 1991. We have helped many clients successfully navigate the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, applying a mixture of techniques including debt restructuring, cost cutting and business plan revision. We have also helped many clients grow through acquisition and look into expansion opportunities. Our services include management consulting, external and internal auditing service, domestic and international tax planning, corporate finance advisory, restructuring and reorganization, merger and acquisition, forensic/investigation, risk management, finance & tax due diligence, transaction support, valuation, exit strategies, executive recruitment, succession planning and remuneration planning. To learn more about our firm, please visit our web site www.grantthornton.co.th.
Further enquiries, please contact:
Lakpilai Worasaphya
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
Grant Thornton
T: 02 205 8142
E:
[email protected]