Glasgow school pupils get a taste of life in professional services with Grant Thornton

5th and 6th year pupils took part in a series of workshops hosted by leading business and financial advisor Grant Thornton.

The nationally recognised Access Accountancy initiative is designed to deliver increased social mobility and empower young people, giving them an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of life in accountancy, with a full week of presentations, hands-on tasks and Q&As.

Now in its second year, the programme has already been a success for Grant Thornton with one of last year’s students, Abbi McCormack, joining the firm’s Glasgow office as an Audit Associate.

Abbi said: “The access accountancy course opened my eyes to a world beyond just school and university, I felt like during that short week I really thrived in a way I hadn’t before. I knew that Grant Thornton was the type of firm I wanted to work for and that I would fit in. I loved meeting all the new people and being treated like a professional, the support that I got when I said I wanted to apply for the school leaver programme was really helpful and as I performed well I was fast tracked straight onto an assessment day. The Access accountancy course is a great way to get a taste of what it would be like to work for Grant Thornton and it was also a great way to get your foot in the door.”

Grant Thornton’s managing partner in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Andrew Howie, added: “It’s more important than ever before that we provide young people with the right skills and knowledge to make career choices that work for them. At Grant Thornton, we’re working hard to drive up social mobility, looking beyond traditional school and university grades and focusing instead on attitude and a passion for learning. The students showed great maturity and an eagerness to learn and I’m confident that they’ll use what they learned in the programme to develop their own successful long-term careers.”