Finnis-Sinclair potential for Au developed by Ackland et al. (1987). The total energy is regarded as consisting of a pair-potential part and a many body cohesive part. Both these parts are functions of the atomic separations only and are represented by cubic splines, fitted to various bulk properties. Using this potential, point defects, surfaces (including the surface reconstructions) and grain boundaries have been studied and satisfactory agreement with available experimental data has been found.