AAT accounting apprenticeships

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Become a qualified accountant with an AAT apprenticeship

AAT accountancy apprenticeships are level 3 and 4 qualifications, they are perfect for school leavers or career changers who left education at 18.

You’ll be supported to achieve the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) professional qualification via an apprenticeship. Each level takes approximately 15 months.

It’s likely you’ll join us in one of our business advisory accounting teams, but you could join in audit. We’re the largest independent chartered accountancy firm in the South West, so you have the opportunity to specialise or pursue a broader role.

Why choose PKF Francis Clark for your AAT accounting apprenticeship?

  • You’ll earn while you learn

  • We fund your training and professional qualifications

  • The work is really varied – no two days are the same

  • You’ll feel supported by your team and your fellow trainees

  • We’re a large firm able to offer great career progression opportunities

  • You don’t need a degree

What do I need to apply for an AAT accounting apprenticeship?

  • 112 UCAS points, with GCSE Maths and English at grade 4/grade C or above

  • You’ll need to feel comfortable working with numbers, but we’ll teach you everything you need to know – for now we’re looking for aptitude and a willingness to learn!

  • You’ll need great written and oral communication skills to build trusted relationships with clients

  • You’ll need to be personable, outgoing and ready to ask questions

 AAT vacancies

There are no jobs currently available in this team.

What does an AAT accounting apprentice do?

It’s likely you’ll join us in one of our business advisory accounting teams, but you could join in audit. You will learn all you need to know to gain your professional qualification and become a qualified accountant.

We’re the largest independent chartered accountancy firm in the South West, so you have the opportunity to specialise or pursue a broader role.

Business advisory

Go broad. Help our clients prepare year-end accounts, management accounts, forecasts and projections. Get involved in areas such as company and business taxation, company secretarial matters and VAT returns.

Audit

Looking for your first accounting job? We’ll fund all your training and professional qualifications and you’lYou’ll typically work in a team at a client’s premises. Our audit team actively keep clients up to speed on technical changes and developments, financial reporting, corporate governance and other issues.

The typical tasks undertaken by an AAT accounting apprentice include:

  • Bookkeeping – recording transactions and ensuring the accounts add up
  • Preparing and filing financial reports – such as balance sheets, budgets, cash flow plans, profit and loss statements tax returns and company financial performance reporting
  • Researching – market research such as industry trends or competitor financials, researching complex tax rules, gathering data for forecasting and to do company valuations
  • Relationship building – talking to clients to answer their questions; giving expert advice and building trusted relationships with your clients is at the heart of what accountants do
  • Learn to use accounting programs – makes the work much more efficient

During your AAT accountancy apprenticeship, you’ll develop a broad range of accounting skills, and you’ll get a flavour of some of the specialisms that you might opt to get into in future. For example you could specialise in work in a given sector such as energy, food and drink or property; or in a service such as corporate finance, cyber security or tax; or pick a path that will see you working with a broad range of clients.

You’ll do lots of on-the-job training, supported by day release for study – either online, with a local training provider or a blend of both.

If you want to continue to develop once you’ve achieved your AAT qualification, we can support you with further professional training. You can move on to the ACA qualification to become a Chartered Accountant or the CTA route to become a Chartered Tax Advisor.

Both are level 7 qualifications, equivalent to a Master’s degree at university. Again, with these routes you earn while you learn and we fund your studies.

Your AAT training programme

You’ll start out on our internal induction programme learning the basics of the work you’ll be doing. It also explores wider topics such as communication, your personal brand, and professional ethics. You’ll meet your fellow trainees and colleagues from across the firm.

As an AAT trainee you’ll then spend 20% of your time training with an external training provider. This could be in person or online. You’ll have access to a tutor to get one-to-one support with any queries.

You’ll be assessed through exams which are sat in person and the firm pays for your exams and training. You are expected to do independent study in your own time, our current AAT apprentices say this is typically around five hours per week.

Beyond gaining a qualification, our wide-ranging AAT apprenticeships programme spans apprentices’ complete developmental needs, through the involvement of buddies and managers. Our internal learning and development team collaborate with you to ensure you have the support you need.

Level three and level four take around 15 months each to complete. If you join us without prior accounting experience, you’ll start with level two bookkeeping. See the AAT website for the latest syllabus.

Meet our AAT trainees

Headshot of Nancy with her dog.

“I find work-study balance is good with AAT. Every week I have one day out at college and this constant allocated time keeps my learning on track. At exam time it can be a bit trickier with revising after work, but you never have many exams close together so you can always spread the revision.”

Nancy, AAT Trainee Accountant
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Headshot of Brandon.

“I’m on track to qualify as an accountant. I’m really progressing and taking on new responsibilities. It’s amazing. There is this idea that accountants are boring or like robots, but that’s not true. Everyone is so friendly and positive and there’s loads of energy in my team! I’m the loud one and they support me and let me be me. They value me for being ‘people person’ able to build positive relationships. I love it here.”

Brandon, AAT Trainee Accountant
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Headshot of Ellie B.

“Accountants aren’t boring, that’s a myth. They are smart, inquisitive and ambitious for their clients; the job is all about building relationships and finding better ways to do things together.”

Ellie, Trainee Accountant
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Headshot of Adam.

“I’m so glad I got this job, my team are amazing and the work is so interesting. That’s due to the broad range of clients, anything from small independent businesses to well-known large corporates.”

Adam, AAT Trainee Accountant
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Headshot of Jamie.

“The best things about being an AAT trainee at PKF Francis Clark are the career progression opportunities and the learning and development focus, and that everyone is very approachable.”

Jamie, AAT Trainee
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