Haines Watts take on four apprentices

Four apprentices have started training at Bristol accountancy firm Haines Watts as part of a new scheme with the largest sixth form college in the city.

The students from St Brendan’s College have all joined Haines Watts Bristol after a series of open day visits convinced them to choose the apprenticeship route, rather than university.

This is the first year of a new scheme post-Covid, which is expected to see three or four new apprentice accountants joining the city office of Haines Watts from the college annually.

The coming three years will see the new recruits reaching Level 7 of their Accounting and Taxation Professional Apprenticeship, during which they will spend time in each of SME specialist Haines Watts Bristol’s different accounting departments.

The four apprentices, all of whom are from Bristol, are: Kieran Hegarty, aged 18 from Whitchurch; Amaya Reid, 19 from Hanham; Lauren Hall, 18 from Pucklechurch; and Sohaib Rehman; 18 from Easton.

Helping recruit the students were qualified accountants Genevieve Crook and Sophia Wallace, who is aged 22 and herself joined Haines Watts from St Brendan’s four years ago.

“We managed to get in touch with one of the careers advisers at St Brendan’s who is also my former tutor,” Sophia said. “We have done talks at the college in April and June, encouraging the students to consider apprenticeships, and have been really pleased with the level of response.

“It’s great to be involved with helping young and enthusiastic accountants find an alternative route into the workplace and it’s going to be interesting to see how this cohort develops over the next three or four years.

“Working in our accounts and audit, tax and outsourced accounting departments, they’ll receive a broad range of experiences and be able to specialise or generalise.

“This is the first time Haines Watts Bristol has run this scheme to this level and it works well for all parties. Clearly lots of young people are considering routes into the workplace which don’t’ involve university, so we are happy to help encourage those alternative perceptions.”

Marian Curran, the Principal at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College, said: “We are delighted to be working with Haines Watts and we congratulate our four students on securing their positions with the company.

“There are many routes into the workplace and apprenticeships offer a feasible and often underappreciated means by which to enhance your qualifications and at the same time start a new career.

“We wish Kieran, Amaya, Lauren and Sohaib all the best for the next stage in their professional lives and we look forward to working further with Haines Watts in the future.”

Matthew Bracher, managing director at Haines Watts Bristol, said there were many benefits to taking on young accountants who have decided to pursue careers rather than going to university.

“Firstly, anyone who takes on a career at the age of 18 and recognises the long-term advantages of avoiding significant debt is demonstrating a maturity and shrewdness which reflects well on their personality,” he said. “Those are the type of people we are looking to offer opportunities to, as they see the world in a pragmatic way.

“In addition, we are interested in being able to train young talent in the values and practices we expect at Haines Watts – it is rewarding to see them develop into people who can really advise and help other people. Having a degree doesn’t always give those personal skills that we look for.

“We have an established trainee programme here, as well as manager and partner level development programmes, which works well for us as a business and is a key part of facilitating growth in the SME market, as well as supporting our longer-term ambitions.

“I want to welcome all our new starts and we look forward to seeing their progress.”