Thousands of aspiring young bean-counters are likely to be disappointed after KPMG was swamped with more than 5,000 inquiries for a groundbreaking graduate recruitment scheme.
The Big Four accountant expects to take on about 115 trainees after signing up Birmingham and Exeter universities to the scheme yesterday, alongside Durham.
Britain’s third-biggest professional services firm is offering to pay for the school-leavers to obtain business degrees and professional qualifications while also working part-time in its auditing division, earning salaries starting at £20,000.
KPMG is one of several British companies overhauling their graduate recruitment amid mounting concern about the increase in university fees to as much as £9,000 a year. Last week GlaxoSmithKline said that it would reimburse the fees of up to 100 graduates, at a cost of about £3 million a year. Deloitte, KPMG’s rival, plans to take 100 trainees directly from secondary school this year, who will earn upwards of £20,000 and study for professional qualifications on the job.
KPMG is one of the biggest graduate recruiters in the private sector, with an intake of about 800 graduates a year. In the past it has hired almost all its trainees from universities.
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However, it expects that within the next few years as many as half of its new joiners will come directly from school.
Oliver Tant, head of KPMG’s audit division, who is overseeing the scheme, said: “At a time when the affordability of higher education is uppermost in people’s minds, this scheme clearly offers an alternative route that should see students emerge not only with first-class qualifications but also a positive bank balance.”
KPMG will start accepting applications for the scheme on Thursday. School-leavers must have at least 320 Ucas points at A-level to be considered.