Saffery has committed to welcoming 144 trainees across its UK and Dublin offices during 2026/27, with 107 starting in September and 37 due in January, a plan that matters broadly because it runs against hiring freezes at many large professional services firms, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because trainee intake determines the future supply of qualified accountants, auditors and tax advisers.

Saffery is a UK and Irish accountancy and business advisory firm founded in 1855 by Joseph John Saffery, providing accountancy, audit, tax and VAT services to individuals and businesses from ten offices across the UK and Dublin, and already supporting 347 trainees in professional qualifications.

The new recruits are graduates, school leavers and apprentices who will join audit and assurance, tax, accounts and client payroll teams on structured qualification pathways, alongside 21 summer interns and eight placement students this academic year.

Rob Jarvis, HR director at Saffery, said the intake reflects the firm's confidence and that many trainees go on to long careers there, while Kathryn Gomme, head of learning and development, said the new Kickstart Programme helps build a pipeline of future talent for the firm and its clients.

That confidence contrasts with the wider market. Graduate job advertisements in accountancy fell 44 per cent year on year, and Big Four graduate and school leaver intakes were cut by up to 29 per cent, as AI and offshoring absorbed junior tasks.

The reduction raises a structural question for the profession. Commentators have asked where the next generation of partners will come from if AI replaces entry-level roles, since partners are traditionally developed from trainee cohorts.

Saffery says its trainees' exam performance exceeded professional institutes' pass rates in 95 per cent of cases in 2025, suggesting that mid-tier firms investing in structured training can compete on outcomes as well as on volume.

For the sector, a 144-strong intake in a market where large firms are trimming graduate numbers shows mid-tier firms treating early careers as a long-term talent strategy rather than a cost to be cut.

Source: Consultancy.uk / City AM / Business Quarter