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Chartered Accountants since 1919
We’ll work with you so that you get the absolute best out of your professional training and development. You will be supported from day one of your accountancy training as you develop the knowledge, technical and interpersonal skills training you need.
Our size means we can offer you big opportunities, whilst still being small enough to care. You won’t feel like a small cog in a large corporate wheel here.
We offer the level 3 and level 4 Association of Accounting Technicians qualifications, popularly known as AAT accountancy apprenticeships. These are globally recognised qualifications, popular with non-graduates, including school and college leavers, and career changers. You can progress from AAT to further professional qualifications.
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The Chartered Accountant (ACA) qualification combines technical training with advanced business and leadership skills. It is recognised by The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
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Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) is the highest level of tax qualification available in the UK. It is recognised by The Chartered Institute of Taxation.
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We offer summer and year-long placement options for undergraduate students, as well a one week work experience option for Year 12 students.
ExplorePKF Francis Clark ranks 33rd of The Sunday Times Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2025 – recognising our commitment to creating apprenticeships, the diversity of our apprentices, and the number who successfully complete their apprenticeships.
Whether you’re finishing school, college, or university, starting a career in accountancy or tax is a big step but an exciting one.
Our trainee programmes are designed to support you from day one, offering structured development, professional qualifications, and real-world experience. Plus, you’ll be joining a firm that’s officially certified as a Great Place to Work.
A trainee accounting job will be a good fit for you if:
You’re curious about finance – you want to understand how businesses operate, how tax works, and what drives financial decisions
You enjoy solving problems – working with numbers, analysing data, and finding practical solutions interests you
You’re eager to learn and grow whether you're studying AAT, ACA, or ATT/CTA, you're motivated to balance work and study to build a meaningful career
You thrive in a team – you enjoy collaboration, building relationships, and learning from others
You want a career with purpose – making a real impact on clients, communities, and the wider economy matters to you
Trainee roles are designed to help you build a strong foundation in accountancy or tax while working towards a professional qualification. Whether you’re studying for the ACA, AAT, or ATT/CTA, you’ll gain hands-on experience, earn a salary, and receive full support throughout your journey.
We recognise that personal development is essential in helping you become a trusted adviser. That’s why, alongside your technical training, you’ll receive personal development support to help you grow the skills and behaviours needed to succeed, both professionally and personally.
A buddy before you start – someone to help you settle in, answer questions, and make your first days easier
Structured support once you join – your line manager will guide your progress, helping you stay on track with your studies and career goals
Real-world experience from day one – you’ll work with clients, contribute to meaningful projects, and apply your learning in practical settings
Ongoing development beyond qualification – once qualified, you’ll continue to grow through tailored learning opportunities, helping you progress into manager roles and beyond
You may study in-person at a study centre or online. You’ll study a structured set of modules and take an exam at the end of each one. We appoint leading training providers to deliver your tuition. We then couple this with our own internal training programme, plus the support of your manager and a mentor, to provide an exceptional training experience.
Applying what you learn in your day-to-day trainee accountant job really helps to make sense of it all. You’ll be expected to study outside of work too, this varies depending on the individual but 10 hours per week of independent study is typical and this increases around exam time.
From applying, to preparing for your interview or getting a job offer – find out all about our recruitment process in our frequently asked questions.
Our people make us who we are – we encourage a sense of belonging and our warm, open culture embraces people from all backgrounds. We focus on you – whatever aspirations you have, we’ll help you be the best you.
Along with building your career, we understand that making friends and having a great social life are priorities for our trainees. We love to have fun so we have regular socials.
Our trainees tell us they feel valued from day one, and they are.
Holly: Training to be an accountant is hard work and it’s not like you clock off at 5, and it’s all done for the day. But there are really good perks to being an accountant, working at Francis Clark means that you can try loads of different departments, working with different people, gaining loads of different experience.
Chloe: We get paid to work and learn at the same time; we can apply everything that we learn in our day to day. Working and training at the same time is really beneficial because it allows you to have access to a range of different people within the office, who have got the knowledge there to help you and support your through training.
Brandon: My team always pushed me forward as much as they can, praising me and reviewing my work making sure that, you know, I am doing the best that I can.
Holly: I’ve been able to work in audit, business services and landed estates. This means that I have been able to try loads of different types of work. With examinations, it’s also really guided me on the areas that I’ve excelled at and really enjoyed.
Chloe: I have regular meetings with my manager on top of our formal annual appraisals who just discuss, you know progress, day to day activities, things that I can learn on and things that I’ve done well.
Holly: The best way to think about ACA accountancy training is it’s a mix of examinations, professional development and ethics. Professional development is all the things you do at work, so training courses; we go and learn about our personalities, our traits, what works well for us in a working environment, and it also means that we get to meet lots of different people as well.
Brandon: The culture of Francis Clark is you know, one big family, everybody is just lovely and welcoming and it’s diverse as well, there’s so many different people. One thing that you don’t expect coming into an accountancy firm is that the people are fun, we have socials and staff parties and everybody’s just really good to get along with.
Holly: So, if you’re moving or joining the area, I did I didn’t live in Exeter before, there’s always loads of people to meet and get to know.
Chloe: The firm are really supportive and caring, provide a lot of health and wellbeing resources, webinars and things like that.
Brandon: I’ve got constant support from the managers, even the partners and obviously because I’m doing my AAT studies, my tutor anytime I need to pick up the phone to anyone their there.
Holly: Nothing is ever too much trouble and when it comes to training that is so important because when your brand new, straight out of university or straight out of school, you probably don’t know what you’re meant to be doing, and I certainly didn’t. I’d done a Politics and French degree and limited work in financial services, and there were so many different areas of business that I found interesting and what every business has is financial services. That means you can work with businesses that work in fashion, environment, economics, whatever it is that you’re interested in, they will have a financial services department, which means that wherever you start or wherever you choose to go with your ACA qualification, means that you can always work in an area of business that you enjoy.
Chloe: My ambitions would be to finish my ATT qualification and then looking forward consider my other options for further qualifications, as I know the firm will support me through that.
Brandon: I just want to go all the way that I can with it, you know be the best that I can be, earn as much money as I can and just be happy in a career that I am enjoying doing.
People are willing to help and explain things. It is easy to approach and talk to my colleagues. I didn’t come from an accounting background so there was a bit of a learning curve, but I am figuring things out and improving. Having people here who support me means a lot as it has increased my confidence. The social side is good too.”
Anoop, ACA trainee accountant
“I love the responsibility I am given on projects. I have a lot of autonomy and the team are very open to considering my ideas, even though I’m relatively new to this! I am trusted with challenging projects but also given support when I need it.”
Becky, corporate finance analyst
“I’m speaking to interesting clients. The amount of trust put into me, especially by my manager surprises me. I was expecting to just be doing the teas and coffees!”
Jaicob, AAT trainee accountant
“I started as a trainee six months ago. I feel settled. I’m growing in confidence and ability and no two days are the same. The company does everything possible to give you the best chance of success.”
Laura, Trainee accountantNo two days are the same in a trainee accountant job. Every client has different ambitions for their business, and so what they need from their accountant varies. We advise on all sorts, from succession planning to complex tax needs, research and development, international trade, employee benefits, and selling your business. Naturally, we prepare accounts and tax returns too.
As a trainee accountant, you’ll need to work from the office most days so that you can learn from more senior colleagues, but over time you’ll have increasing flexibility to do some work from home, in line with the firm’s hybrid working policy.
We open our trainee accounting roles every Autumn. If no suitable role is currently available please sign up for our job alerts.
You can apply on our website for trainee accountant jobs in eight of our nine locations. These are Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Poole, Salisbury, Taunton, Torquay and Truro.
We advise applying ASAP after the roles open to secure your preferred location. This is because we make offers as we go with no fixed closing date.
