Training as an accountant has never been more popular, judging by the thousands of graduates and school leavers that are applying to join the UK’s top firms. At the same time, the profession’s appetite to take on these trainees continues to rise, increasing at only a marginally slower rate than fee income.

Accountancy Daily’s Top 75 accountancy firms trainee survey reveals that there are currently 19,887 trainees passing through the firms studying to become a qualified accountant, tax adviser or consultant. This is a 4% increase on last year’s survey, which recorded a total of 19,120 trainees among the firms.

But could there be clouds on the horizon? The survey has revealed some shifts in trainee levels at the top end of the market among the Big Four firms. While PwC reports an 18% increase to 4,275 (over a fifth of the total number of trainees in the survey), with KPMG reporting a 10% rise to 3,289, Deloitte has seen its numbers fall by 18% to 2,479, with EY reporting a less dramatic 2% fall to 2,841.