In a nutshell

You'll join our three-year training programme to become a Chartered Accountant (ACA). You’ll earn while you learn, working whilst studying. We pay for all your training and qualifications and support you every step of the way. We are ranked in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list 2024 for the second year running, making this a brilliant place to embark on your accountancy career.

What you'll be doing

One thing we can guarantee is that no two days will be the same. Every client is different, so you’ll be challenged with new opportunities daily. You’ll work across a variety of sectors, experiencing a wide range of high-quality clients, from start-ups, AIM-listed companies, and inspirational not-for-profit organisations. As a trainee accountant you will work in either our audit & assurance, business advisory or professional practices teams.

Our audit & assurance teams regularly visit clients’ premises, so every day is different. You get to work in small project teams (typically 2-4 people) on a wide range of medium sized and large businesses for 1-2 weeks at a time. This is a great way to learn and develop technical, commercial and personal skills. You’ll identify key issues and risks facing a business each year and use data analytics tools as part of ensuring information reported is accurate and reliable. You’ll also gain experience in preparing annual statutory accounts and tax calculations, as well as assessing forecasts and projections.

Our business advisory teams help our clients prepare year-end accounts, management accounts, forecasts, and projections. You’ll be able to get involved in areas such as company and business taxation, company secretarial matters and VAT returns. Therefore, you’ll gain a breadth of commercial, tax and general accountancy experience in this role.

Our professional practices teams are leading specialists, supporting law firms, doctors, and a range of other professionals with all the financial information and advice they need to successfully manage their business. You’ll gain a great range of experience, including accounting, tax (partnership, company and personal), audit and preparing analysis, forecasts, and projections.

Our hybrid working enables you to split your time between the office, home, and client sites. As a trainee you’ll attend the office frequently for formal training and on-the-job learning – and with our caring and open culture you’ll very quickly feel like a valued member of the team.

About you

You’ll enjoy this job if you like….

Being analytical and methodical in your approach to work
Working with numbers
Solving problems
Talking to people
Becoming an expert
Being a team player, surrounded by a fun and caring team

Studying alongside working is demanding. As an ACA trainee accountant, you’ll need to do regular independent study outside of working hours and to revise for your professional exams.

Your development

We recognise that personal development training is essential in helping you to become a trusted business adviser, so you will receive support and learning not only for your professional qualification but also towards the skills and behaviours that are required to be a successful accountant. You will be allocated a buddy before you start with us. When you join us you will have a line manager and a student counsellor who will help ensure that you are on track with your professional qualification and career aspirations.

What we're looking for

You might be an undergraduate, a recent graduate, or a graduate who has already established a career and wants to switch and start a new career in accountancy. You’ll be expected to demonstrate the following:

On track to achieve or have obtained a 2.2 or above in any degree discipline
Minimum of 112 UCAS points (obtained from three A Levels or equivalent excluding general studies)
Grade 4-9 or C or above in GCSE Maths and English

We recruit on a rolling basis for our opportunities and consider applications as we receive them. We recommend applying ASAP as we close roles early if we receive enough applications to fill all our opportunities.

Why work at PKF Francis Clark

As the largest firm of independent chartered accountants and business advisors in South West England, joining PKF Francis Clark brings opportunities to develop your career in a direction that interests you.

Having celebrated our centenary in 2019, we’re a team of nearly 1,000 people, based across our offices in Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Poole, Salisbury, Southampton, Taunton, Torquay and Truro.

Our culture is flexible and supportive, enabling you to be the best you can be. We work hard to ensure you can be yourself, develop and be part of a forward-thinking team that makes brilliant things happen. But don’t just take our word for it.

PKF Francis Clark is certified as a Great Place to Work. In 2024, we climbed nine places to 24 out of 105 large organisations on the list of the UK’s Best Workplaces.

We’re also ranked among the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women (33 out of 90 large organisations), Best Workplaces for Development (30 out of 100) and Best Workplace for Wellbeing (44 out of 100).

Workplace culture experts Great Place to Work also highlighted PKF Francis Clark as a top achiever among the UK’s Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services.

And in recognition of our outstanding training programmes for graduates, school leavers and career changers, we’ve been ranked among England’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers for two years running.

Whilst we’re proudly independent, PKF Francis Clark is a member of the PKF Global family of firms – together we’re the 12th largest provider of accountancy services in the UK. Being part of a global community of business advisors in 150 countries provides opportunities to expand your horizons by connecting with PKF colleagues around the world.

Your core benefits will includes

Financial benefits:

Pension
Group life assurance - up to four times your core salary
Group income protection
Health cash plan to help cover the costs of everyday healthcare

Health & Wellbeing benefits:

Option to buy 5 extra days holiday*
Counselling and support for you and your immediate family
Virtual GP for you and your immediate family
Cycle to work*

Other benefits:

Medicash Extras providing you with shopping and gym discounts
Gifts for career and family milestones
One volunteering day per year to support local organisations
Emergency funding from the Francis Clark Charitable Foundation

Francis Clark LLP

Check out our latest opportunities

Graduate Accountant Trainee - August 2025 Start