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Graduate trainees

For students with a strong interest in organisations and people, a career as a professionally qualified accountant can be both stimulating and rewarding.

Our graduate training programme

We take on between four and eight graduate trainees each year – both newly qualified graduates and those who have already started work but have decided on a career change and now want to join the profession – to study for the Chartered, Certified or AAT qualifications. In addition to the annual August intake we often also take on students in January. You should apply as soon as possible – even if you are contemplating a gap year.

You should have, or be anticipating, a minimum of a second class honours degree (usually a 2.1), but this need not be in accountancy or any other business related subject. The large majority of students entering the profession don’t have ‘relevant’ degrees. English and Maths GCSE at grade B or above and at least 300 UCAS points are also normally required.

Students enter employment under three or four year training contracts at our offices in London or Godalming, during which they receive a wide range of practical experience while studying for their professional examinations. Practical training to equip you for your work with us is provided by SWAT UK Ltd and more technical training focusing on the exams is provided by professional tutors from Kaplan. Both are leading training organisations in the profession, and this is supplemented by in-house workshops and training sessions. Our students are given paid study leave, and we also cover the costs of all courses and examinations for the first attempts.

We are an Authorised Training Employer for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The professional qualification our graduate trainees will achieve at the successful conclusion of your training will be the same whichever firm you join, so why should you train with Shipleys?


The information on our Why Join Our Team? page applies equally to our students as to other staff.

Why train with us?

The Association of Practicing Accountants (APA), of which Shipleys is a member, provides a lot of information about becoming a chartered accountant and the advantages of training with a medium sized firm like us. They produce a booklet ‘Becoming a chartered accountant – training with a medium sized firm’ which you can download.

We offer

We invest a lot into our students and in return expect them to contribute and do well.

We expect

We are currently looking for graduate trainees to join our team and to study for the Chartered, Certified or AAT qualifications.

Of course some of these are skills which can be improved over time, but the right pre-requisite characteristics must be present. Our graduate trainees have:

Application process

Competition for places is fierce with a large number of applicants. To apply, please email your CV to us at graduates@shipleys.com

Our successful applicants normally go through the following process:

To Find Out More

For further information, please get in touch with our friendly team:

"A big thank you to everyone for an enjoyable and supportive 3 years at Shipleys. It's been a pleasure to work with you all."

Thomas Ho
Former Shipleys Graduate Trainee

Trainee Stories

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