Anita Mattison, director of human resources at Baker Tilly, which ranked 7th among UK accountancy firms in 2005, says episodes such as Enron have helped alter ideas of what accountants are about: “Accountants are now seen as business advisory specialists, not just people who sit down and go through spreadsheets.”
Sally Whitman, a graduate recruiter at Deloitte, says the firm has doubled its graduate intake over the past three years, to 1,200, and that applications have grown by nearly the same amount. “Events like Enron and Parmalat have definitely raised the profile of the industry,” she says. “Students have seen accounting firms mentioned in the national press, and have more understanding about we do than in the past.”
Ruth Stokes, head of recruitment at KPMG in London, says the Enron affair has attracted graduates to work in accounting. “We have huge numbers of places to fill,” she told the Financial Times. “But we have definitely been helped by a change in the image of the industry, which after things like the Enron scandal, is much less about grey suits and is a little sexier.”
With graduate hiring numbers up, accountancy firms need all the help they can get to attract students who are also being wooed by resurgent investment banks.
This year’s annual study of graduate hiring intentions by High Fliers Research predicted 2006 graduate vacancies at Big Four accounting firms will be up 28% on 2005, and that accounting vacancies overall will account for 26% of all graduate jobs.
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