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Ian Phillips, Deputy Managing Director at Duncan & Toplis

New Scheme Aims to Widen Access to Accountancy

Award-winning chartered accountancy firm Duncan & Toplis is helping to launch an ambitious social mobility drive to provide opportunities for talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds across the country.

Duncan & Toplis is one of the founding partners of Access Accountancy, which will be launched at a school in inner-city London on Wednesday 2nd April.

Recognising that more needs to be done to improve access to the accountancy profession, 18 organisations have come together to pledge to provide at least 3,750 work experience placements by 2019.

The scheme introduces a range of targets and measures to significantly increase opportunities for young people from all backgrounds and has the backing of the Chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, the former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Key measures include:

• a minimum of 750 work placements a year for target students across the profession
• collection and sharing of socio-economic data on applicants on an annual basis
• benchmarking and regularly measuring progress in widening access
• school outreach programme to increase awareness among young people of the opportunities available.

Ian Phillips, Deputy Managing Partner of Duncan & Toplis, said: “Accountancy is generally recognised as one of the professions needed to underpin our country’s future prosperity and growth.

“We are proud to be a founding partner in this initiative which will allow students to access a career in accountancy based on merit rather than background.”

Alan Milburn added: “It is welcome that the accountancy profession is taking action to improve social mobility. I hope these measures will lead to significant progress in widening access to the profession and inspire thousands of young people who might have thought accountancy was out of their reach to investigate the opportunities available.

“These welcome steps need to be taken further and faster by the whole industry.”

Information about the scheme will be available from Wednesday 2nd April at www.accessaccountancy.org, where further updates will be posted as the programme develops.

The launch event on 2nd April will be held at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Secondary School, a large state school for girls in Angel, Islington in London.

Notes to Editors

About Access Accountancy

• Access Accountancy is a new social mobility initiative driven by professional bodies and firms across the UK accountancy profession.

• It has been established to help talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds gain access to accountancy firms.

• Founding partners include: Duncan & Toplis, AAT, ACCA, BDO, Blick Rothenberg, Buzzacott, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, ICAEW, Kingston Smith, KPMG, Mazars, National Audit Office, PKF Littlejohn, Price Bailey, PwC and Reeves & Co. Other firms and professional accountancy bodies are committed in principle, including ICAS.

About Duncan & Toplis

• Duncan & Toplis was established in 1925 and has since grown into one of the largest independent firms of chartered accountants in the Midlands.

• The firm was named ICAEW East Midlands Medium Accountancy Firm of the Year in March 2014.

• Duncan & Toplis appears in the top 30 UK accountancy practices list published by Accountancy magazine.

• The company has 10 offices throughout the East Midlands: in Grantham, Boston, Lincoln, Louth, Melton Mowbray, Newark, Skegness, Sleaford, Spalding and Stamford.

• Duncan & Toplis offers a wide range of services to small to large-sized family businesses, from accountancy, audit and tax to payroll, human resources and computer services.

• The business employs around 350 staff, of whom 85 are currently engaged in professional training.

For media information please contact:
Jez Ashberry
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
07780 735071
jez@weareshootingstar.co.uk
@jezashberry
[Duncan72access]


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