Announcing the arrangement, UK Athletics said Grant Thornton would assist in “the creation of the [London 2017] Organising Committee by offering strategic guidance, planning expertise and personnel”.

More generally, Grant Thornton - which is not UK Athletics’ auditor - is to “invest people and assets to help improve the culture and systems across the whole of UK Athletics, ensuring that every member of the team, from coaches and athletes to the event teams, is given the maximum opportunity to succeed”.

Disclosure of the deal comes some weeks after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was said to be looking for a professional services partner to join its TOP worldwide sponsorship programme, in a report described as speculation by an IOC official.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) engaged on a partnership with another professional services firm, Deloitte, at a time when it was facing arguably a similar situation to the one UK Athletics faces now.

In the BOA’s case, it needed to manage a rapid upscaling of its activities in advance of a one-off event: the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Over the next three years, three global athletics championships are scheduled to be held on UK soil in rapid sequence: the 2017 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships; the 2017 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships; and the Birmingham 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

Niels de Vos, UK Athletics chief executive, said the partnership with Grant Thornton was about building “dynamic teams who can create events and environments that encourage peak performance throughout the organisation…

“If British athletics is going to be the best we can be, we need to look outside our sport and get ideas from sources where perhaps other governing bodies wouldn’t look,” de Vos continued.

“This is what a business would do; they look at a whole series of things and compare themselves with competitors.

“Good businesses will then go way outside their sector in an effort to improve and innovate, which is what we are doing by collaborating with Grant Thornton.”

For Grant Thornton, Kylie Roberts said the firm was partnering with UK Athletics to “work with us on coaching excellence and likewise we work with them to create high performing teams and a high performing organisation that can excel in a volatile, uncertain, ambiguous and complex world.”

Related stories
September 2015: David Owen: Why the IOC should think carefully before any move to include professional services in its TOP worldwide sponsorship programme
November 2014: BOA extends partnership with Deloitte on road to Rio 2016
February 2013: BPA renews partnership with Deloitte through to Rio 2016
July 2011: Team 2012 signs up Deloitte as new supporter