BDO welcomes over 400 graduates and trainees

23 September 2019 Consultancy.uk

The UK wing of professional services firm BDO has expanded its 5,000 strong workforce by welcoming 430 new trainees across the business. The initial intake of 370 trainees has arrived as of the beginning of September, while a further 60 are confirmed to join in December.

Improved social mobility in the UK could add as much as £170 billion to the UK economy. As part of efforts to broaden the talent pools of the professional services industry in particular, focus has increasingly shifted toward firms picking up promising school leavers via traineeships. Earlier in September this saw consulting and auditing firm RSM admit 400 new graduates and trainees to its ranks across the UK.

BDO has now become the latest advisory and accounting firm to announce an increased mixture of graduates and apprentices entering its tax, audit, advisory and business services and outsourcing streams. The news has already seen some 370 trainees arrive at the firm’s 17 UK office locations as of the 6th September, with another 60 scheduled to join in December 2019.

BDO welcomes over 400 graduates and trainees

Demonstrating the increasing appetite among school leavers to find a fast-track into professional services work, BDO experienced another record-breaking number of applicants for the trainee positions, with almost 13,000 individuals applying for the roles, a 20% increase on the previous year. Each year BDO also hosts its annual intern and summer school programmes. This builds on the firm having widened its entry criteria in 2016 and introduced a new remote-interview process to allow greater access to students from a range of social and educational backgrounds.

This year the firm hosted 36 current A-Level students on its Summer School Programme, with 43 undergraduates also joining on an Internship Programme, allowing potential future candidates to gain first-hand experiences of the real world of work and a taste of BDO life. The successful applicants will now get the opportunity to work towards a Level 7 accountancy or taxation professional apprenticeship, equivalent to a master’s degree, alongside their relevant professional qualification.

Paul Eagland, managing partner at BDO commented, “Almost half of our new trainees are in our offices outside of London, and I am really pleased that we have increased the number of apprenticeships we offer by 40%. As someone who started their career in accountancy as an apprentice, I see myself as an example of how someone with or without a university degree is able to rise through the ranks. All of the trainees have been selected based not only on their academic achievements but because we believe they demonstrate the values, attitudes and skills that fit with BDO’s culture.”

The completion of BDO’s acquisition of Moore Stephens earlier in 2019 has helped the firm ramp up its intake of trainees. Eagland added that as BDO is now “enlarged”, attracting fresh talent “is vital in order to remain dynamic and forward-thinking and to help our ambitious clients succeed.”

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