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Introduction 3

What we do 4

Graduate Training Programme

Early and continual client interaction 4

Wide-ranging cross industry experience 5

Learning from senior managers 5

Enjoyable working atmosphere 6

Professional qualification 7

Choose your department

Audit 8

Tax 10

Advisory 12

Career path 14

Locations and application process 15

Contents

Graduate Careers 3

BDO Graduate Training Programme Overview

BDO is the world’s largest European-based accountancy network. Its global network of member firms has over 1,200 offices in more than 130 countries worldwide. Being part of BDO will ensure that you will have the benefit of world class audit and advisory capabilities and local expertise supporting your traineeship.

At BDO, we recognise that the choice of firm might be the most important decision you will ever make. We know that the firm you choose will be the platform upon which your career will be built.

We build a training programme that allows our graduates to become more than qualified accountants; they also develop all the skills of expert business advisers.

To achieve this BDO’s graduate training programme delivers much more; delivering advisers who are refined in their interpersonal skills, advisers with a wide-ranging level of business understanding for a variety of sectors, advisers comfortable with interaction at all levels of management seniority. This is underpinned by our emphasis on camaraderie in the workplace and a positive attitude towards working in a team.

There are five key elements integral to BDO’s graduate training programme:

Early and continual client interaction

Wide ranging cross industry experience and a commitment to offer this variety to each trainee

An open door policy allowing on-the-job learning between trainees and senior management

An enjoyable working atmosphere built on camaraderie, trust and friendship

The technical training, experience and support to assist you in becoming a qualified professional. At BDO we deliver more to our successful graduate trainees. We deliver a platform for their careers.

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What do we do?

Achieving professional and technical competence is key to a trainee accountant’s career. BDO understands this. We also understand that to make the most of your period as a trainee you should develop sophisticated advisory skills and a keen business understanding at the same time. The best way to achieve this is to have a training programme that facilitates and supports interaction with clients from the outset.

BDO gives you the opportunity to work with clients right from the start.

You will experience on-site visits and other client interactions with the knowledge that you are being supported, advised, and guided all the way from more senior members of your client team. This will be a vital element to your understanding of how a business really operates. As you learn new skills with each assignment and gain from the continuous support and guidance of senior members in the team you will gradually build on your expertise.

Early and continual client interaction

Why we are differentIn a marketplace that typically provides two types of accounting firms – the large scale global provider, and the smaller relationship–driven local firm, BDO provides a real and sensible alternative. BDO provides the best of both worlds with the reach and resources of a global player and a local relationship that matters.

We are chosen for our client service philosophy which is focused on personalised service, attention from Partners and providing a tailored service approach. In a market where one size certainly does not fit all, organisations are increasingly turning to BDO for our:

Personal, responsive service

Streamlined, accessible organisational structure

Professional, dedicated culture

Attention of highly experienced senior professionals

Open, candid communication philosophy

Varied, focused capabilities

Access to a cohesive and collaborative global network.

We offer a sophisticated array of services and access to global capabilities combined with local presence and the personal attention of senior–level professionals. This innovative approach and our unique position in the marketplace distinguish us in our ability to address clients' needs.

Graduate Careers 5

BDO trainees deal with a portfolio of clients across a diverse range of industry sectors. These clients have demands of BDO that vary considerably because of the unique challenges that businesses face from sector to sector. Our graduates build their own skills as they deal with different clients in different sectors and we ensure that they will not be limited in the number of sectors they are exposed to.

Wide Ranging Cross Industry Experience

An Open Door Policy Allowing on-the-job Learning Between Trainees and Senior Management

At BDO, smaller client service teams and an excellent partner to staff ratio contributes to an environment where our graduates’ work is noticed by peers, partners and clients. Our culture is based upon open communication, teamwork and camaraderie. We create an environment where you will have the opportunity to stand out and make a distinct impact.

Our senior management team are accessible allowing you to tap into their knowledge. Partners are accessible, approachable and take a keen interest in trainee development. We believe this delivers a better service to our clients and is the best for our trainees.

You will have the opportunity to meet and talk to Partners as part of the interview process.

BDO has dedicated sector teams delivering expert advice across the range of Irish industry sectors including:

Your exposure to a wide range of sectors and clients will benefit your technical development, industry knowledge and your client management skills. This gives you a clear advantage in terms of career progression. Should you choose that your post qualification career path is to move out of practice and into industry you will have an unquantifiable advantage. You will have far more choice in terms of the industries that you can choose for your next position, rather than being restricted in your options so early in your career.

Retail Hotel, Leisure & tourism

Agri-food Financial Services

Technology, media & telecoms Green Energy

Healthcare Sport Advisory

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An Enjoyable Working Atmosphere Built on Camaraderie, Trust and Friendship

We have worked hard to retain the ethos and culture of an intimate local firm and combined this with all the benefits that our huge global reach and scale can give. With 250 employees in BDO’s Dublin office and over 100 employees in Limerick, we can offer departments and services in all the audit, tax, and advisory areas, sector specialism and support expertise. However, you will not be just another number. You will be significant to your team, department, and the firm as a whole.

Whichever department you choose, your role will involve interacting and developing relationships with employees across the Firm. Through this interaction and through activities such as our department hosted lunches, you will become familiar with what each department does. This is crucial in your development as complete business advisers so that you have the confidence to discuss other business functions with clients.

We welcome your individuality, your ideas, your passion and your drive. We know you want to succeed but understand that balance is critical.

Through our active social club, you can get involved in all sorts of activities including tag rugby, indoor soccer, yoga and triathlons. In addition to being sporty we have regular social gatherings, including mid-summer events and Christmas parties.

Graduate Careers 7

Professional Qualification

At BDO, you receive great practical experience to make the most of your technical training. In addition to our generous study leave package and paid tuition, course and exam fees, we also run in-house classes to support trainees in areas of your professional studies where you might be experiencing difficulties.

We offer training and development to enhance your technical abilities and build your leadership and management skills. We support you through completing your professional exams with additional in–house workshop programmes, coaching and guidance, study leave and financial support for course fees.

By the end of your traineeship, through on the job experience and through your studies, you will become a confident and qualified business adviser.

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We provide audit and advisory services to a broad range of clients operating across many sectors. Our clients include many of Ireland’s largest international and indigenous privately owned companies who are at the forefront of Irish business.

Our audit department is the largest department in the firm and comprises four teams each headed by a Partner. Graduate trainees come into a dynamic and vibrant environment and quickly settle in as part of a team of experienced professionals. We spend time with our clients getting to know and understand their business. We get to know the people behind the business and the challenges they face.

BDO’s global network of member firms has over 1,000 offices in more than 100 countries worldwide. Being part of BDO ensures that we have world class audit and advisory capabilities and the local expertise when advising clients operating outside Ireland.

Over the course of your training, as well as auditing, you will be reviewing client’s operations and controls; identifying weaknesses and making recommendations; and assisting companies with their financial reporting obligations and implementing best practice.

Choose your departmentAudit & Business Advisory Services

You will get a mixture of working on–site out at clients offices and back in our office on assignments typically of one to three weeks duration.

During your time training with us you will become proficient in BDO’s computerized audit tool “APT”. This is used by our offices worldwide and forms an integral part of BDO’s audit methodology. BDO were the first Irish accountancy firm to qualify for registration with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which is now a prerequisite for any firm that provides, or wishes to provide, auditing services to US listed companies and their Irish–based subsidiaries.

By the time you have completed your training contract you will be working as an Audit Senior on many of our largest clients. You will have exposure to dealing with a broad range of often challenging audit issues and more complex financial reporting scenarios. Your development as an expert business adviser will be well underway, and this leads to a wealth of opportunities. A significant number of our management team trained in our audit department, and many of our past trainees now hold senior positions in our clients’ organizations and in successful companies in Ireland and abroad.

Selection of our audit clients

Graduate Careers 9

Working closely with Partners and senior management provides you with a great learning platform and the chance to perform tasks to a high standard; you learn so much from their wealth of experience. It’s certainly something I have appreciated since starting my traineeship with BDO.

Darach mooneyAudit TraineeB.Sc Business Studies – Dublin City University

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BDO’s team of multi–disciplinary tax professionals has exceptional technical and industry knowledge and is committed to working with clients to capture opportunities and manage risk. Our success comes from tailoring our services to suit our individual client needs.

Our services include corporate and personal tax compliance and a wide range of tax planning, both domestic and international, across all tax heads. We also provide transaction support, working alongside our corporate finance and other teams to offer a complete service in relation to mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.

As well as specialists who can deal with the most technically challenging sector–specific issues, we also employ people who can handle a wide variety of questions from our varied client base, from self–employed individuals to some of the largest multi–nationals operating

Choose your departmentTaxation services

in Ireland. We value and encourage both of these skill sets equally and your training will give you an insight into all aspects of general taxation services.

At first, you will largely be dealing with compliance issues – providing figures for statutory accounts and preparing corporate tax returns. As you progress, you’ll be tackling more complex projects, advising our clients’ senior staff on tax pitfalls and opportunities, dealing with Revenue and getting to grips with complicated tax advisory projects.

You may also have the opportunity to spend time in one of our specialist tax areas such as transfer pricing, R&D tax credits, VAT or private clients.

We are interested in people from all academic backgrounds. If you have an interest in the law or legal matters a career in tax may be of interest to you.

Selection of our tax clients

Graduate Careers 11

I chose to do my training with BDO as I knew I would be exposed to more areas

of tax rather than just specialising in one, which I believe will help

me with my professional exams. I work mainly in income tax and corporation tax and, from this, I have access to a great variety

of clients from different industries. After just a few

days into the job, I had begun interacting with clients. This shows how important client

interaction is to BDO.

collette SteeleTax TraineeBA Commerce – University College Cork

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At BDO we understand the needs of our clients in today’s economic climate.

We are constantly developing and tailoring our core specialist Advisory units to meet the needs and demands of today’s market.

Our advisory services encompass:

– Corporate Recovery

– Corporate Finance

– Consulting Services

– EIIS and Business Funding

– Shareholder Services

– Outsourcing

– Corporate Secretarial.

Opportunities in Corporate RecoveryBusiness Restructuring is not a job for the faint-hearted. It incorporates the rescue, rehabilitation and turnaround of ailing businesses – and also formal insolvencies. We aim to get businesses back on their feet as quickly as possible, whether they are smaller enterprises or large corporates. This means providing advice on the strategic options available to the business and its funders, or on specific operational procedures that will improve performance and help the business to recover.

Choose your departmentAdvisory services

During your traineeship you will learn how to:

– Provide advice to businesses on the strategic options available to the business and its funders

– Provide advice on specific operational procedures that will improve performance and help the business recover

– Where a business cannot be salvaged, learn how to recover as much money as possible for interested parties such as banks or other funders, employees and other creditors

– Find yourself in highly pressurised situations from the start

– Manage the affairs of a company with a view to selling it or recover monies owed

– Communicate critical news to employees

– From the outset, be given responsibility for various parts of an assignment, dealing with a range of people from the shop floor to the boardroom

– Work on clients site where necessary.

Selection of our advisory clients

Graduate Careers 13

I knew BDO would give me great experience in different industry

sectors. I deal with clients all the time; it’s tough at the beginning

as you are not used to this kind of professional interaction

but BDO make sure you gain experience dealing

with clients from the outset and offer all the

support you need.

Jenny BerginCorporate Recovery TraineeBusiness and Management – Dublin Institute of Technology

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My role as a BDO Partner involves working as a business adviser to

some of Ireland’s fastest growing companies. The training I

received here at BDO was invaluable in developing the

expert advisory skills I use in my job today. Sinead Heaney,

Partner.

As a qualified employee you’ll have even more responsibility and the chance to complete a range of challenging secondments with other business areas, clients or even one of our overseas offices.

Post–Qualification

Manager Moving up to manager grade means running more teams, working with a broader portfolio of clients and starting to specialise in industry sectors. You’ll also take on responsibility for colleagues development.

You’ll get involved in internal training programmes, firm–wide projects and sector focus groups to re–think our practice in key business areas. You will also be playing a growing role in supporting business development activities.

Senior Manager

As a Director, you’ll be expected to start winning work. At this stage individuals who have shown the potential to be BDO partners will be developing their business case for partnership. We look for true leaders who can create deeper client relationships and help to form the strategy that will take our business forward.

Director

Partner

Career path

QualificationWorking with a stimulating range of clients you will have the opportunity to put your study into practice.

Creating Expert Business Advisers

The combination of early client interaction, learning from senior management and gaining experience on a large portfolio of clients in a diversity of sectors has been hugely helpful in developing my own advisory skills. This gives me a great deal of confidence when advising my clients on a wide range of business issues. Simon Carbery, Assistant Manager.

Graduate Careers 15

Every application however is reviewed on a case by case basis.

You don’t have to be a final year student. We also welcome applications from people who have already graduated, perhaps travelled or taken a gap year, or those studying a post-graduate qualification.

Following your application there are further stages in our selection process:

– Competency based interview

– Ability tests.

InterviewFor Dublin we have a “one interview” process where you will meet directly with the Partner or a member of senior management for a competency based interview. You will also have a verbal and numeric reasoning test on the same day. The interview and assessment process takes approximately two hours in total.

For Limerick there will be two interviews.

*We will consider qualifications obtained outside Ireland.

Locations and Application Process

When should I apply by?Applications for Dublin and Limerick close on October 25 at 5:30pm.

How do I apply and what do I need to qualify as a graduate?You will need to apply online by completing our online application form at bdo.ie/graduates.

The application form is the first stage of our selection process and offers you the opportunity to edit your answers as you go, or to save a draft application and return to it at any stage. Questions on the application form are your first opportunity to demonstrate how your skills match our key criteria. When answering these questions, try to use recent examples and highlight your specific role and the skills you used and gained in the context you are describing.

Training contractsIn our audit and advisory departments you will study for the ACA or ACCA qualification, and in our tax department you will study for the AITI qualification. These training contracts are either three or three and a half years in duration.

Application RequirementsYou will need a minimum of 400 points in your Leaving Certificate (or equivalent) and a 2:1 honours degree/masters obtained or predicted*.

LimerickDublin

© BDO 2011–2013

BDO is authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland to carry on investment business.

BDO, a partnership established under Irish Law, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent members firms.

BDO is the brand name for the BDO International network and for each of the BDO Member Firms.

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For Further inFormation pleaSe contact:

human reSourceSat graduaterecruitment@bdo.ieor +353 1 470 0335

BDO, Four Michael Street, Limerick www.bdolimerick.ie

BDO, Beaux Lane House, Mercer Street Lower, Dublin 2 www.bdo.ie