Accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO Northern Ireland, today confirmed the appointment of 18 new trainees at its Belfast headquarters. Pictured with the new recruits is BDO Northern Ireland Senior Partner, Nigel Harra.

ACCOUNTANCY and business advisory firm, BDO Northern Ireland, today confirmed the appointment of 18 new trainees at its Belfast headquarters.

The new starts, including one Higher Level Apprenticeship in Accountancy, will take up immediate positions across the business and support senior staff who provide a range of professional services to more than 1,000 local companies.

The new intake follows recently announced expansion plans that will see BDO Northern Ireland create a further 43 jobs in forthcoming months with support from Invest NI.

 Senior Partner, Nigel Harra, welcomed the trainees and said that investment in talented people would drive future success for the firm.

“We strive for excellence in every area of the business and were impressed by the calibre and ambition of all the candidates and those who have gained roles with us.

“The 18 new additions have the chance to learn from some of the very best professionals and work with many of the most interesting organisations in Northern Ireland.

“Graduate recruitment has been a major success for us in recent years.

“The vast majority of recruits remain with us after completing training contracts and half of our current Partners joined the firm as graduate trainees.

“As an established local firm we want keep investing and developing the local marketplace, creating as many employment opportunities as we can.

“This year we are preparing to fill a further 43 new roles that will generate £1 million annually in additional salaries and bring our employment levels to over 200 people by 2018.

“That’s good news for us and for the Northern Ireland economy.”

Jessica Tsang secured a position with BDO Northern Ireland having graduated from Queens University Belfast in the summer. She said:

“The scale of the work and the number of clients that we will work with would not normally be available to most graduates in Belfast.

“The combination of on-the job training, access to senior management and exposure to a wide variety of clients and sectors from an early stage is invaluable.

“The position will give me a real opportunity to gain important experience as I start out on my career.”