Major London firm offering £40,000 graduate salaries and ‘golden hello’

A major London professional services firm has announced plans to offer a “market-leading” salary and bonus to its graduate intake next year.

Grant Thornton has overhauled its early careers programme to instead offer a starting salary of £40,000, with new “milestone bonuses” offered for both sign-on and post-qualification, also known as a “golden hello”.

The firm said the new programme, launching in September 2027, was part of an effort “to invest in the pipeline that will shape its future leadership” through “structured learning built around developing the capabilities of a future partner, not just the technical skills”.

Regional graduates will also receive proportionate pay increases, and school leaver salaries will continue to remain “market leading”, the firm said, with trainee salaries included in job adverts for the first time.

The salary goes head-to-head with Big Four accounting firm competitors KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC, all of whom are estimated to pay graduate salaries up to £36,000.

Grant Thornton UK’s chief people officer, Abigail Fisher, described the move as an investment in how the firm recruits future partners and develops talent.

“We are making a significant investment in our people proposition from how we recruit our future partners, to how we develop the talent already here,” she said. “We want everyone to see a genuine path to partnership, backed by real investment in getting them there, including business development training at every level of the firm.”

She added those joining the scheme will have a named partner sponsor from their joining day. The programme continues post-qualification, keeping support in place throughout the trainee’s career at the firm.

"There are future partners of this firm in sixth forms and university lecture theatres right now, deciding where to start,” she said. “We want them to choose us, and to know that if they do, we'll invest in them from day one.”

Trainees have also been promised enhanced client exposure, the opportunity for international secondments, access to AI tools and a digitally enabled curriculum, as well as business development training to support networking skills and client interactions.

While professional services firms compete over what salaries to offer prospective starters, NatWest announced it would offer its graduate trainees in corporate and institutional banking a £60,000 starting salary.

Meanwhile, Deloitte UK increased its bonus pool by 14 per cent, with partners making a profit of £1.125 million, boosted by demand for advice from clients looking to use AI.