BDO is set to provide work experience and career insight opportunities to more than 8,200 young people across the UK during 2026, as part of efforts to improve access to careers in accountancy and professional services.
Leeds will play a role in the initiative through the return of the firm’s Explore BDO programme, which focuses on supporting students who meet social-mobility criteria.
The programme will support more than 140 students across BDO’s Leeds, Birmingham and London offices, providing an introduction to accountancy careers alongside employability support and opportunities to meet professionals working within the sector.
BDO has also expanded its wider early-career activity through in-person events, school engagement, virtual work experience and programmes designed to reach students at an earlier stage in their education.
Almost 1,000 school, college and university students were expected to attend work insight sessions across 12 BDO offices during July. More than 6,300 young people are also registered on the firm’s virtual work-experience platform.
The expansion comes as accountancy firms continue to consider how they can attract a broader and more diverse pipeline of future talent.
Providing students with access to practical experience and visible career pathways could be particularly important for those without existing family or professional connections to accountancy.
For Yorkshire’s accountancy sector, initiatives based in Leeds can help raise awareness of the range of careers available locally while supporting firms seeking to address future recruitment and skills challenges.
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