Training, social immobility and tuition fees - KPMG’s blueprint solution

KPMG has been quick to announce a new trainee scheme for school leavers which it says it will introduce in September 2011. They plan to recruit around 75 school leavers who will study accountancy at Durham, as part of a six year programme with the firm, leading to both a degree and a professional chartered accountancy qualification from ICAEW. KPMG envisages that in due course school leaver schemes of this type may account for the majority (in excess of 400) of its annual trainee chartered accountant intake.

Here is the key point of the plan - KPMG will pay the full university and professional tuition fees for each student in addition to a starting salary of around £20,000 (in London). They will receive a salary throughout the six year period. During the degree phase, which will last for four years, students will spend part of the time in residence at Durham University, where they will study at Durham Business School, and part of the time working at KPMG.

Why are they doing this? After all, they will be innundated with applications from graduates every year, and have no shortage of well-qualified people to choose from, without the cost of paying their tuition fees and a salary for the four years of their degree course. But they say that they are concerned about preserving the diversity of their staff; their concern is that the level of student debt is going to become an “intimidating prospect”, and the firm needs to ensure that this does not choke off its ability to recruit the most talented young people.

Oliver Tant, Head of UK Audit at KPMG says that “We need an accountancy profession that is as diverse and as open as it can be. This scheme will address current concerns around how students can meet the costs of university, and make degrees and professional qualifications available to a broader socio-economic group.” The company says the scheme will be a “blueprint” for private sector support for students when fees in England rise in 2012 to up to £9,000 per year, and the idea has wide-ranging political support as it is endorsed by Universities Minister David Willets, at well as former cabinet minister Alan Milburn. Other benefits for KPMG will surely include a steady stream of the brightest young talent which they can induct into their company culture, and ensure that they have the best prospects for productivity in the medium and long term - this is a great example of workforce planning being used to meet the practical factors of external change.

Plenty of students might be interested in finding out about the scheme - the details are here, and they say that they will open the application process from the end of February.