Andrew Howie, partner at Grant Thornton in Glasgow and head of marketing in Scotland, is a man with a mission.

Three months on from the merger between his accountancy firm and RSM Robson Rhodes, he has a message for those thinking of engaging a Big Four accountancy company.

"We're a real alternative on so many fronts now. We are in a strong position nationally and, indeed, internationally with Grant Thornton International.

"And while we don't have the same multinational corporate client base - and the fee structures - of the Big Four, we believe we represent a real alternative in Scotland."

The merger of Grant Thornton and RSM Robson Rhodes was concluded on July 1, 2007, and the first three months have been a matter of integrating the new teams in audit, corporate finance, M&A and taxation. While this has been a bigger job in England and Wales, where RSM Robson Rhodes had a greater footprint, it has had less of an impact in Scotland - because, Howie says, Grant Thornton has a distinctive appreciation of Scotland's own business scene.

He said: "What is different is that our talent pool, nationally, has grown, adding expertise and experience to many areas of the business.

"Also, after the top 100 companies in Scotland - and our top-tier plcs - the familiar landscape is made up of thousands of small and medium-size enterprises, mainly private and often family-owned businesses. That's our heartland. We are in this sector and we're there with start-ups too.

"Now we're in a strong position to take Scottish firms all the way. From start-up through to a listing, if they so desire. They don't have to graduate to a larger firm when they get bigger, we can do it all."

He wants more Scottish businesses to consider an AIM listing: "This is a way to release value for owners and emerging entrepreneurs and to move up the league with the help of internal investment."

Grant Thornton was the reporting accountant for 17 of the new AIM listings by Scottish firms from January to June this year. This was more than KPMG, which had 16, Ernst & Young, with 11, and Deloitte with 10. Grant Thornton is also the leading auditor for AIM-listed companies in the UK with 200 companies, with KPMG at 135 and PwC at 104.

Howie said: "I think this proves our position nationally. And, of course in Scotland we helped companies such as the Corsie Group and Glen Group onto AIM. We've had great success with AIM listings throughout the UK, and it is still the most successful growth market in the world.

"In terms of market capital, it is just behind Nasdaq. But we'd like to see more Scottish firms consider this option."

Howie, himself an auditor by profession, is also keen to raise the stature of the audit within firms. "It's not simply about getting the cheapest commoditised audit teams coming in and giving a business an MOT and a clean bill of health. It's about lifting the carpet and looking underneath. For us, it's adding extra value. It's very much an under-rated and misunderstood part of the professional advisory business, but it can help businesses substantially."

Grant Thornton now wants to be recognised for its ability to offer a much more comprehensive range of services. Howie believes the firm has a stream of emerging talent in Scotland at director level with people such as Darrel Poletyllo, financial planning, Stuart Brodie, indirect tax, and John Montague in the insolvency and recovery unit.

Added to the mix are: David Cockburn, director of corporate finance who moved over from PwC and has led a number of transactions, including CUPA, a Spanish roofing company, purchasing a Ballachulish slate business, and the sale of W&J Dunlop to a US Fortune 500 company.

Howie says there is a unique culture within Grant Thornton and a real desire to be seen as premier league players in Scotland.

He said: "We want more businesses to understand the capabilities of Grant Thornton in Scotland. Perhaps we've missed a trick in the past by not pushing ourselves forward as a distinct alternative to the Big Four. But I feel we can do this now. We've increasingly got the firepower and the expertise.

"We now have accumulated expertise from our work with more than 30 separate public sector contracts for schools and hospitals. The merger with RSM Robson Rhodes has had an impact in this field as there is now a national government advisory team of 140 specialists."