The Scots ICA is to open seven new training centres in England this autumn to train students lost by the English institute, in a move that could persuade the Big Five to train more students with the Scottish body.
The Scottish institute expects to train up to 900 additional students this September after Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers decided to switch more new students away from the English institute in the wake of last year’s controversial defeat of proposals to introduce elective to the Moorgate Place training syllabus.
KPMG – where English institute president Dame Sheila Masters is a partner – has also said it will be encouraging new students to take the Scottish qualification.
The Scots ICA’s new centres will be in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Luton, Manchester and Reading, besides existing training locations in Scotland.Accountancy Age understands that the Scottish institute is also considering setting up centres in Cambridge, Hull, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Southampton and the Channel Islands subject to the outcome of talks with Arthur Andersen, KPMG and Deloitte & Touche.
‘It is the first time we’ve ever done something like this. It is a very exciting time,’ Scots ICA education and training director Mark Allison said. ‘We’ll probably know how many, if any, students from the other firms will be studying with us by June.’
PwC has said in the past that the firm’s only reservation about training more students through the Scottish institute was the lack of locations south of the border.
The institute is running the new centres in partnership with BPP Holdings under a 10-year deal.
The partnership will enable the institute to train E & Y students in all of the cities where the firm has offices. BPP already has established training centres in these cities.