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Johnston Carmichael has entered a partnership with the ICAS Foundation to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and promote greater social mobility in the profession.
As part of the agreement, Johnston Carmichael will provide bursaries to two accountancy students for a period of up to four years until they have finished their degrees.
The financial package aims to help with the cost of living and pay for materials related to their studies including textbooks and computing equipment.
The students, whose courses got underway this month, will also benefit from mentoring and an introduction to Johnston Carmichael’s networks.
To help a wider cohort of accountancy students Johnston Carmichael will additionally provide coaching to other foundation programme participants in employability skills which are usually learned on the job or passed down from friends and relatives, such as public speaking and interviewing successfully.
The group stated that the partnership is “the first of its kind” nationally and follows a plea by the ICAS Foundation to the profession to get behind the scheme and help the charity to support a greater number of young people.
The ICAS Foundation was founded in 2012 to support young people from less advantaged communities to study accountancy and finance degrees and promote a diverse and inclusive pathway into the profession.
Sanjay Singh, director, ICAS Foundation, said: “We are incredibly excited to launch this partnership and we hope that Johnston Carmichael’s commitment will encourage other firms to come forward. We support about 30-40 new students annually, but we could work with hundreds if more firms backed us financially. In 2023, we received a record number of applicants to our programme, and I expect the demand to increase year on year.
“Over the years, we have seen the accountancy profession make positive steps to becoming more inclusive and encourage entry to those from more diverse communities, but we cannot be complacent. Our Nurturing Talent programme opens the door to young people who might otherwise have faced barriers to higher education and recruitment, allowing them to enter the profession based on their talent and merit – and not where they have come from.”
He added: “We invest and share in their ambitions, helping them to work towards their goals of achieving a degree, and in most cases progressing into a CA training contract. I truly believe that we are nurturing future leaders in accountancy.
“It is to Johnston Carmichael’s great credit that the firm is standing up for these young people and driving positive change for the profession.”
Elisa Henderson, Early Careers Pathway manager, said: “It is extremely rewarding to confirm our new partnership with the ICAS Foundation. We have been thinking about how we can achieve greater diversity in our talent pipeline for a long time. This initiative will help to level the playing field for young people and ensure we secure the best possible candidates for the firm. “Combined with JC Futures for non-university entrants, our ICAS foundation partnership helps to attract candidates from an even wider pool.”
