ACCOUNTANCY firm Campbell Dallas is investing £250,000 on the recruitment and development of 15 apprenticeship accountants this year.

The company said it had to focus on developing and retaining young talent in response to a major shortage of skilled young people across the accountancy profession.

As one of the largest providers of accountancy apprenticeships in Scotland, the firm has 50 staff currently under training contracts.

Chris Horne, Managing Partner of Campbell Dallas said the accountancy profession is struggling to attract, develop and retain young people. “[The sector] is losing too many people to competing sectors offering graduate programmes, such as financial services,” he said. “Attracting university trainees is a major problem for the long term sustainability of the profession and will impact on succession planning in the near future.”

Since it launched an apprenticeship scheme three years ago, Campbell Dallas said it had invested well over £1 million in employing, training, and development of staff.