Graduates

Our highly-regarded three-year programmes will take you from graduate to professionally qualified, opening up a world of opportunities.

Whether you join us in Audit, Tax or Business solutions, we have a wide range of opportunities available for you to gain experience in a firm that cares about your future. You will get access to an array of interesting clients from an early stage – we are well-known for working with large, high-profile businesses with challenging issues in fast-moving and highly technical areas, including the global capital markets and the financial services sector, as well as technology, manufacturing, retail, natural resources.

You will get paid study leave to work towards a recognised industry qualification and coaching and support with your exams at every step. We pride ourselves in offering a graduate scheme that is on a par with the Big Four, providing you with an abundance of resources and experiences.

We offer opportunities for graduates to train as Chartered Accountants (ACA/ACCA) and Tax Advisers (ATT-CTA).

Our training schemes

ACA/ACCA

Joining our Level 7 apprenticeship training scheme means you will be working and studying at the same time, developing knowledge and skills.

These will be gained through a combination of classroom training and practical experience in the workplace, in order to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, alongside obtaining an industry recognised apprenticeship.

ATT-CTA

If you join one of our Tax teams (Corporate Tax, Private Client Tax, VAT or Human Capital Tax), you will be studying the ATT-CTA Tax Pathway to become dual qualified as a Tax Technician (ATT) and Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA).

ATT is awarded by the Association of Tax Technicians and will give you a solid foundation for tax compliance work. CTA is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and is the highest level tax qualification in the UK, helping you to develop your technical advisory knowledge.

This Pathway provides an efficient and flexible route into the tax industry, enabling you to specialise in your chosen area of tax from an early stage.

Application process

Online application

Browse our opportunities to choose a location and opportunity that fits your career goals and complete your online application

Online assessment

After completing your application, you will be asked to complete our online assessment. This includes a numerical and verbal reasoning test.

First interview

If you are successful in both our online application and online assessment, you will be invited to a telephone interview with our recruitment team.

Assessment centre

If successful in your telephone interview, you will be invited to take part in one of our half day assessment centres. If this goes well we will make you an offer to join our team!

FAQs

We hope you can find all the information you need on our website, but to help below are a few of the questions we hear quite frequently when speaking to candidates. If you still have questions, speak to your recruiter or email recruitment@pkf-l.com .

How many roles do you recruit for each year and where?

Each year, we recruit around 80 trainees (graduate and school leavers) in London and Leeds in our Audit, Tax and Business solutions teams.

What are the minimum requirements for your programmes?

We ask for 5 GSCE’s, grade B and above (including Maths and English Language) and three A-levels (or equivalent) grade C and above (excluding General Studies).

Can international students apply? What if I need visa sponsorship?

We currently do not offer Visa sponsorship to international students however this is something we are looking to review.

When is the best time to apply?

If you are looking to join as a graduate or school leaver, we open applications in September, with all roles for the following year. This ties in with the start of the professional qualification course start dates.

We recommend you keep a regular eye on our careers page and follow our Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter pages to see our latest and upcoming vacancies to get your application in early.

Are there secondment opportunities or opportunities to work abroad?

As a member of the PKF Global network, we offer our people the opportunity to experience international secondments in the offices of other member firms in places such as New York, California, Brisbane and Sydney. This will be available to you after you complete your professional qualification.

I haven’t been successful. When can I next apply?

If you are unsuccessful you will need to re-apply the following year, when we re-launch our application season in September.

Can I apply if I already have a training contract somewhere else?

Here at PKF, we deal with each application on a case by case basis. If you are newly qualified and want to discuss your options, please do get in touch.