School Leaver Programme, Accountancy - Guildford (Sept 2027)

Job Description

Why Start Your Career at S&W?

Starting your career is about more than just a job. It's about the people you learn from, the relationships you build and the experiences that shape you. Whether that's passing an exam, achieving a personal milestone or celebrating success with your colleagues, you'll be part of a team that's invested in your growth, celebrates your achievements and supports you to be yourself.

At S&W, you'll be given meaningful responsibility from the start, alongside the support and guidance needed to help you succeed. You'll learn from experienced colleagues, develop valuable professional skills and build confidence as your career progresses.

As one of the UK's fastest-growing accountancy and advisory firms, we offer a balance of opportunity and support. You'll learn from people at every level of the business, gain exposure to a variety of clients, industries and experiences, and develop the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to build a successful career.

No previous experience in accountancy, finance or professional services is required. We're looking for people with the right attitude and potential to succeed. If you're curious, eager to learn and ready to challenge yourself, we'll provide the training, support and opportunities to help you make the most of your potential.

The Accountancy Team at S&W

As part of our Business Outsourcing Services team, you will be working with clients and their finance teams or bookkeepers, helping them with their year-end accounts, management accounts, bookkeeping, VAT returns and cloud accounting software support. This means providing services, advice and solutions that really make a difference. You will also have exposure to working with partners gaining invaluable experience and building your confidence with senior members of staff.

You’ll build valuable client experience, developing the knowledge and skills needed to be a trusted business adviser. Alongside your work, you will receive first-class professional training as you study for the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

qualifications

What will you be doing?

Progression within this team is fast, with responsibility from an early stage. By the second year, you will be taking on a more senior role and helping to supervise the new intake of trainees. As your experience grows, you may have opportunities to experience other ad hoc assignments that our clients request our help with such as: one-off software implementation projects, cloud accounting software ‘health-checks’ or client secondments to assist their finance function. You will also receive internal training from the professional services learning and development team.

You will be working in a client-facing, dynamic team, developing the knowledge and skills needed to be a trusted business adviser. Additionally, you will study towards the Level 4 Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) professional qualification, developing essential skills sought out in the professional services sector.

Your work will include:

• Working as part of a team to provide clients with a range of services including statutory accounts, bookkeeping, management accounts, VAT returns, software implementation and ‘health-checks’ of their systems
• Developing an understanding of our clients and their businesses
• Keeping your manager fully informed of any issues and problems, ensuring the work is completed to a level agreed with the manager and recording clearly and concisely the work carried out
• Becoming familiar with our internal accounting software as well as other cloud accounting technologies
• Providing advice and solutions to clients in response to their accounting queries
• Using automation to improve efficiencies for our clients’ finance function
• Prioritising tasks for your own portfolio of clients, whilst monitoring time against budget

To Be Successful in This Role

You'll be someone who:

• Is curious, eager to learn and open to new challenges
• Enjoys working with others and building positive relationships
• Has a keen eye for detail and enjoys solving problems
• Is proactive and looks for ways to make a positive contribution
• Takes ownership of their development and is motivated to achieve their goals

You'll also need to:

• Be committed to working towards the Level 4 Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a Level 7 professional qualification.
• A Level: Predicted or obtained minimum 112 UCAS points in top three A Levels (or equivalent), excluding General Studies
• GCSE: Minimum Grade 5 (or equivalent), in English Language and Maths

No previous experience in accountancy, finance or professional services is required.

Your Learning & Development

We'll support you throughout your qualification journey with a leading UK training provider, dedicated study time and practical experience that complements your learning.

You'll join as part of a cohort and benefit from a strong support network that includes experienced colleagues, a buddy and our Learning & Development team. From your first day, you'll have people around you to guide you, answer questions and help you make the most of every opportunity.

As a Colleague at S&W, You'll Have Access to Benefits That Include

• Fully funded training towards professional

  qualifications

• Competitive salary
• Private medical insurance
• Life assurance
• Pension contribution
• Generous holiday package
• Option to purchase additional holiday
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Eye care support
• Shared parental leave

Our Commitment to Inclusion

We are proud to value the differences that a diverse workforce brings, representative of society and our clients. At S&W we have a wide range of highly active employee resource groups and we’re delivering multiple diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the organisation. It is our commitment to provide a workspace where all colleagues, regardless of identity, background, or circumstance, feel respected as individuals and feel that they can achieve their full potential and work in a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment.

We are happy to make any reasonable adjustments to accommodate for your needs throughout the application process. Please let your Recruiter know.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR COMPLETING YOUR APPLICATION

When you click on the 'I'm interested' button, you'll be taken to your profile page. We're currently updating it, but in the meantime:

• We can only accept one application to any of our programmes in a recruitment season. If you're unsuccessful, you'll need to wait until the following recruitment season to reapply.
• Under the Resume (CV) section, uploading a document is mandatory; however, it will not be formally reviewed.