Mid tier chartered accountancy firm, ESV has found that the accessibility of their partners to all levels of staff plays an important role in both attracting and retaining high performing staff.

In fact, access to mentoring from Partners is the number one reason why senior accountants choose ESV.

Eager to find out why qualified accountants choose the firm to develop their career, ESV conducted meetings with staff to ascertain their list of reasons and the results were surprising.

HR Manager Nadine Quarello said “whilst ESV offers competitive pay and benefits and has a really strong work/life balance policy, the access to partners in both a professional and social setting really gives us the edge when hiring senior staff...this really differentiates ESV from the big 4.”

In a competitive market, accounting firms need to differentiate themselves in order to attract high quality candidates. Whilst students applying for cadetships continue to rise, most firms are struggling when it comes to finding qualified, senior level staff.

Partner Chris Kirkwood said “high quality candidates are often very ambitious and they want to be mentored by partners and ESV offers them a clear path to partnership. It’s not just senior managers that benefit from the time with Partners; everyone in the firm including cadets has the opportunity to learn from senior members of staff – in fact, we actively encourage it.”

Not only are staff provided with mentoring opportunities and access to the firm’s diverse range of corporate and individual clients, they are encouraged to get to know partners on a personal level through the regular social and charitable functions the firm provides.