Financial services firm takes on 20 new joiners

Financial services firm Grant Thornton is set to welcome 21 new joiners to its Bristol office this year,

The new starters will join a variety of departments across the South West business, including commercial audit, tax, public sector audit, forensics, and VAT.

This represents a 75 per cent increase on the 12 new joiners that were introduced to the Bristol team in 2022.

This year, a record number of new school leavers and graduates will be starting their careers at Grant Thornton, with a combined total of 496 people joining the firm via these routes.

Of this, a total of 213 school leavers will be welcomed onto Grant Thornton’s apprenticeship programme, which is a 13 per cent increase compared to 2022 (188) and the highest number ever to join the firm in one admission.

For the first time, nationally, the firm’s audit department – which hires the largest number of trainees in the business – saw more school leavers than graduates start at the function.

As well as welcoming its new trainee intake, the firm, which is a founding member of Access Accountancy, offered 218 work experience placements to sixth form students through the scheme this year – a significant increase compared to 2022 (131).

Jonathan Riley, practice leader for Grant Thornton UK LLP in the South West, said: “At Grant Thornton, we’ve been evolving our approach to identifying talent, with more of a focus on future potential and strengths, as opposed to past achievements and academic profile. Our emphasis on increasing our school leaver intake has allowed us to access a new, diverse talent pool that we would previously have been missing.

“The school leaver apprenticeship route offers an excellent path into the profession for young students. Our school leavers develop into well rounded business advisers, gain an internationally recognised qualification and become professionally qualified a year ahead of their peers who choose to go to university and then join our graduate programme.”