The future looks bright for the next generation of accountants as the top A level grades were in maths and firms such as Grant Thornton prepare to take on 70 school leavers
Students this year have continued to excel in the subjects of maths and further maths with the 2016 results showing same the top five performing A levels as 2015. These are: further maths, Irish, maths, German and French.
More than half of the students taking further maths achieved an A or A* and 88% achieved a C or above.
This year’s results showed that 56% of those taking further maths and 42% of those taking maths received an A or A* grade.
Around 92,200 students decided to take maths this year and further maths now has a quarter more students showing a significant growth.
Grant Thornton has announced that it will welcome over 70 school leavers in 2016-17. The firm has offered 77 places on its school leavers programme and has seen a 47% increase in applications this year.
The changes Grant Thornton has made to its selection processes for its school leaver programmes, including the removal of academic barriers, have widened access to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The firm has seen that employees who would not have met the previous academic hurdles are now performing just as strongly as those who did meet it.
Rachel Hill, social mobility senior manager at Grant Thornton, said: ‘More young people are considering different routes into the world of work, with some preferring to consider school leaver programmes over higher education.
‘Regardless of what age they choose to join the workforce, we believe that our profession should be open to those who have talent and ambition, regardless of socioeconomic background.’
