Monahans, the South West’s largest chartered accountancy and advisory firm, has been recognised as a top SME apprenticeship employer for 2024.
The Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers celebrates England’s outstanding small and medium-sized businesses that are committed to creating new apprenticeships, celebrating the diversity of their apprentices, and the number of apprentices who successfully pass through their schemes.
Monahans was ranked 24th out of 50 SME firms, seventh among all professional services businesses, and the top professional services firm in the South West.
Developing and expanding its apprenticeship scheme has long been a focus for Monahans, as part of its aim to invest in the local community and build out its talent pipeline. Since initiating the scheme, Monahans’ regular intake has grown significantly with a record number of apprenticeships completed in the last 12 months, across the firm.
The vast majority of the firm’s trainees come through its apprenticeship scheme, via one of two streams. Candidates can either join straight from school, as a Level 3 apprentice, or after university, where they begin a Level 7 apprenticeship – the equivalent of a master’s degree.
One of the key benefits of Monahans’ approach is that apprentices can gain experience in an office-environment and receive on-the-job training, all whilst earning the national living wage. This allows them to put into practice what they are learning, with the security of a regular income.
Candidates also receive ongoing support from external learning providers throughout the process and have time built into their schedules for off-the-job training, facilitating the time and headspace necessary to develop essential skills for their next career step.
Ryan Ainscow, a former apprentice at Monahans, said,“Completing an apprenticeship at Monahans has enabled me to develop valuable workplace skills alongside gaining a professional qualification.” Ryan who recently qualified as a Chartered Accountant is now an Assistant Manager in the firm’s audit team and helps to train the next generation of apprentices.
Monahans is seeing the benefit of ‘growing your own’ talent amid a competitive job environment, as well as gaining from the new ideas and fresh perspectives that younger generations can offer in terms of business operations.
Additionally, as an apprenticeship paying levy employer, the firm is able to recoup some of the training costs, enabling it to redistribute this in other areas. As the firm grows, it plans to expand its apprenticeship offering to further enhance its talent pipeline and ability to deliver the best service possible.
Ellie McQuade, Technical Learning and Development Manager at Monahans added, “Our team is proud to receive this recognition following such a successful 12 months for our apprenticeship scheme. We’ve had a record number of candidates complete apprenticeships, and it’s been brilliant to hire an increasing number year on year.
“The success of any firm relies on a constant stream of high-quality talent and our apprenticeship scheme allows us to benefit from a wide range of candidates, eager to learn and grow professionally. But it is also rewarding to have the opportunity to provide younger generations with the ability to train alongside work and the skills necessary to succeed going forward.
“We know that accountancy offers an exciting and stable career path, but it can be difficult to get the message out in such a highly competitive jobs market, so this ranking reinforces the prospects for the next generation of talent.”
Pictured above: Ellie McQuade, Technical Learning and Development Manager at Monahans
