Atkins are hiring!
Atkins is part of SNC-Lavalin Group, one of the world’s leading design, engineering and infrastructure consultancy service providers. When you join Atkins, a world of opportunities opens up before you. Find out more here
Register Now
If you are a school or college the Learn Live news channel is FREE to use. This also applies to parents and students who can access the channel from home. Join here
LIVE CHAT
Apprenticeships Live BDO LLP
A university education isn’t for everyone – some people simply want to get out there and start earning straight away. Our School Leaver Programme lets you do just that. You’ll be supported throughout your training as you earn while you learn.
With BDO you can pick up highly-regarded professional qualifications, while enjoying a permanent salaried career – all without the expense of funding higher education yourself. At the same time, you’ll be gaining invaluable experience in a commercial environment, working on real business projects alongside leading industry professionals.
Our School Leaver Programme combines work experience with getting your professional qualifications. For the first two years you’ll study towards the Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (CFAB) qualification.
If successful in these, you’ll work towards gaining an appropriate professional qualification for your chosen specialism. This will usually be the ACA, but may be the CA (in Scotland) or the ATT or CTA if you intend to specialise in tax.
If you pass all of your exams, then within four years you’ll be a qualified accountant. Scottish and BS&A candidates will remain on five-year programmes.
From day one you can count on an extensive network of support, including mentors, partners and your individual counselling manager. The counselling manager will monitor your progress, act as an information source and make sure you’ve been set appropriate work and clear objectives. They’ll help you settle in, find the best ways to meet the challenges you face and realise your full potential. You’ll also be assigned a buddy (a more experienced colleague) and a student qualification manager, to support you through your professional exams.
We pay for every aspect of your professional training. This is conducted by external tutor firms, except for the CTA training part, which we offer in-house. We’ll make sure you have all the study time you need, along with support and extra tuition if you want it. Our excellent results speak for themselves – often up to 10% above the national average.
Training includes not only the specialist knowledge and practical tools you’ll need for your business area, but also a range of personal, management, client service and client-winning skills. Together, they’ll help you to become a fully rounded BDO adviser.
Deciding on a particular business area and qualification may seem daunting at this stage. To make it easier, we’ll give you as much information as possible about the options available, so you can see how well they fit in with your strengths and interests. Most of our school leavers trust their instincts to which particular area ‘feels right’ for them.
Please take the time to read about each area to help you make the right choice. You can also watch videos of recent BDO trainees talking about their journey so far.
To be considered for our school leaver programme, you need to have at least:
- 3 A levels at grades A*-C, excluding General Studies and Extended Projects
- A*-C at GCSE in Maths & English Language