One of the world's largest accountancy bodies has teamed up with De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to offer incredible work opportunities for graduates.
ACCA - the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - is helping DMU's Graduate Champions scheme which aims to help graduates boost their CVs in today's competitive jobs market.
Seven graduates have been working with ACCA members and approved employers to gain vital industry experience.
Georgina Stone (pictured), who graduated with a First in Business Management and Finance, is now on an internship as an accounts associate with international charity charity NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education).
Georgina said: “The internship has proved to be an invaluable experience so far as it has given me the opportunity to make good business contacts and learn relevant business practices which will without doubt be useful in my future career.
“As the finance department within NIACE is a relatively small department, I’ve been able to be of some real use and have been given responsibility for tasks which are relevant in the company’s day to day operations
“I whole-heartedly recommend Graduate Champions to anyone who is looking to gain some extra experience in a given field because this experience has been invaluable and I can see the benefits it will have to my job prospects.”
Both ACCA and DMU are keen for the partnership to continue. This is the first time that ACCA has been part of the Graduate Champions programme.
Leah Brown, Student Recruitment Manager at ACCA UK, said: “It’s great to work with DMU because of their focus on graduate employability, they invest heavily in finding ways to help their graduates launch themselves into a career which is equally as beneficial for the graduates as it is for the ACCA members looking to acquire new talent.
“Part of our ethos is about nurturing the next generation of accountancy and finance professionals which is why ACCA members are keen to support graduate schemes such as DMU Graduate Champions.
“We want graduates to join us so that they can become members and we can integrate them into the profession and for students, they get the opportunity to acquire work-ready skills which set their academic knowledge into a professional environment."
Richard Bowden, Internships Manager at DMU, said: “We know from listening to feedback we get from students and graduates that Accountancy and Finance graduates are really keen for high quality work experience in their chosen field.
“Working with the ACCA to communicate with their members has therefore been a major development for the DMU Graduate Champions scheme and will allow us to continue to provide graduates with highly sought-after paid internships in accountancy and finance roles.”
Posted on Thursday 12 February 2015