There is great graduate talent available right here in Northern Ireland, with several top-class colleges, schools, and universities. Business owners should employ graduates to provide new talent, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas to help support their business, where additional resources are required, writes Ross Boyd.

Here at RB Chartered Accountants we take pride in our graduate programme and offer the best support possible to all our employees, providing our team the opportunities to learn, be challenged and grow into various specialisms.

To succeed in accountancy today, the most important thing to recognise is that accountancy is so much more than deadlines and good calculations. We reinforce to our graduates that our role is to be confidants and wealth builders. From a graduate’s very first day with us they will be challenged to think independently, present ideas and push themselves to add value to our clients.

It is crucial that all accountancy and related professional service firms here in NI work closely with new graduates to nurture their skills and safeguard quality accountancy into the future.

Across the company, we also support our staff to pursue their qualifications in partnership with Chartered Accountants Ireland and others to ensure that all stakeholders gain.

And it’s not just with people where we commit to being cutting edge.

We continue to invest in the latest digital systems, to ensure our employees have the best tools to support our clients. In today’s current economic climate, with increased costs and adverse mortgage rates, we are seeing more and more of our young people moving overseas to seek out better opportunities. With that we run the risk of losing talent locally. We must do all we can to nurture our young people and give them the reason to develop their skill sets and feel motivated to stay. After all, Belfast offers great opportunities for graduates long-term – for instance our booming tech scene means our graduates can move into roles as CFOs and finance directors of the future.

This year, we have experienced unprecedented growth, and as a result we welcomed eight new staff, five of which joined via our graduate programme. We are extremely lucky to welcome these promising new additions to our team and we look forward to working closely with them over the next number of years to nurture their talent, help them achieve their Chartered status and reach their full potential here in Belfast.

We have plans to onboard a further ten members of staff to our team from all levels within the business throughout 2023. We aim to continue to nurture the future of accountancy, by promoting the profession and all the potential that it offers.

For more information visit Ross Boyd I RB Chartered Accountants Belfast NI.

Ross Boyd is a business advisor and fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland. He founded RB Chartered Accountants in 2010 offering a new and positive range of Chartered Accountancy, Audit and Business Advice services to businesses across Northern Ireland, with a clear vision of how to grow owner managed businesses and provide strategic independent advice.