The accountancy industry offers the best training and support to its graduates, according to research.

Some 3,000 graduates in their first three years of employment were asked by anonymous career review site TheJobCrowd.com to score their company on a range of criteria including responsibility, progression opportunities, colleague interaction, training, work-life balance and benefits.

Accountancy topped the bill when it came to development opportunities with new entrants typically offered significant chances to improve their skills early on in their careers.

A tax associate from Grant Thornton said: 'There are lots of training courses, both during the initial joining period and throughout the role, which is great for long term development and exactly what you need at the start of your career.'Meanwhile, an auditor working for PwC added: 'One of the best things about working in accounting is the great training and support on the job, there are plenty of opportunities to improve.'

The survey found that among its accounting peers, Grant Thornton led the pack, closely followed by BDO, KPMG and PwC.

Out of the 17 industries surveyed, career progression and the quality of colleagues all scored equally highly being ranked third equal, while company culture was placed sixth.

Key among the positives were the 'extensive support', 'quality training', 'excellent clients', 'good reputation' and 'great progression' offered by the profession to its graduate intake.

A graduate trainee in BDO's consumer markets team said the firm has a 'great emphasis on personal development', while one of KPMG's middle market auditors praised its recognition of talent by saying 'if you have the drive and ambition the sky is the limit'.

Accounting graduates also rated the fact that the industry working day was an hour shorter than the average across all industries at 8 hours.

The survey revealed that the average accounting graduate's salary was £26,587.

Computer giant Microsoft topped the overall list, scoring particularly highly on progression, culture and training.

Natasha Freeman, co-founder of TheJobCrowd.com, said: 'What we want to stress is that this is data collected from people actually doing the roles rather than from those predicting what it would be like to work for a specific firm and as such we believe this data is unique and infinitely more valuable.

'All of the information was collected anonymously and therefore respondents gave a warts and all assessment of their employer and their role which we think will be invaluable to those planning their first steps in the working world.'