At Darnells we’re proud to have given some brilliant financial minds their first roles in our exciting industry. If you are ready to take on the challenge of real world workplace experience, we want to hear from you.
We offer work experience opportunities at a range of academic levels. From school, college, and university students to those completing their AAT and ACCA qualifications. We support a broad and constantly evolving range of learning; helping each participant to enhance their practical experience and skillset.
We offer more than accountancy experience, if you are interested in HR, reception or general administration (with a little bit of marketing) we can offer this opportunity also.
If you’re interested in a work experience placement at Darnells please send us an email to hr@darnells.co.uk containing your CV and some information about yourself. Please also state your preferred dates, duration and which of our offices you would like to be based in. Also let us know if there is a specific role or department you would like your work experience to focus around.
Due to the volume of work experience applications that we receive we are not able to accommodate all work experience applications. However, we will do our best and reply to your request as soon as possible.
Another year of work experience and wow what a great experience for the students and our teams! We offer real-world opportunities for students to immerse themselves in a world of learning and opportunity to gain valuable skills and insights into the industry. But don’t just take our word for it— here’s what some of our recent participants had to say about their time with us:
Charlie joined our Totnes team for a week in July to find out if this could be the career for him. He
completed a set of sole trader accounts in just a couple of days, reconciling three bank accounts on
his own. He quickly picked up our software and was confidently posting journals by day two. As well
as smashing through VAT invoice reviews and uploads whilst asking the right questions to understand
the ‘why’.
Charlie showed great initiative, a solid understanding of accountancy basics, and a genuine interest
in the field.
Thanks for your hard work, Charlie – we wish you all the best!
Jack joined one of our Newton Abbot teams in March as he had a keen interest in accountancy.
He had a keen eye for problem-solving and reconciliation which was impressive. It was even
mentioned that Jack would make a great accountant one day if he chooses that career path
Jack shared some wonderful feedback with us:
“I have really enjoyed my work experience at
Darnells. It has given me a great insight into what accounting is and what it would be like to pursue a career in this field. My favourite part has been working with prepayments, accruals, and
depreciation, and adjusting them for the next financial year before posting them in a journal. All the
staff I worked with were extremely helpful and patient, especially when I didn’t quite understand
something. Thank you for this opportunity.”
Keep it up Jack and we believe you will go far!
Jasmine joined one of our Newton Abbot teams in May.
The team truly enjoyed working with her, Jasmine was eager to learn, approached everything with a
smile, and worked autonomously. She helped prepare a VAT Return, analyse transactions, and post
journals. She will make an excellent accountant one day!
Jasmine shared some wonderful feedback with us:
” Thank you for allowing me to undertake work
experience last week. It was extremely helpful and insightful. The team was patient, guided me
through tasks, and taught me new skills. It was an amazing experience that provided me with first
hand knowledge of accounting.”
We wish you all the best in your future endeavours!
Reece joined one of our Newton Abbot teams in July, the peak of the work experience season!
From day one, he showed a real interest in the work and wasn’t afraid to ask thoughtful questions to
deepen his understanding. He tackled every task we gave him with enthusiasm and professionalism,
no matter the challenge. His ability to work autonomously while still being engaged and inquisitive
has really stood out.
We are excited to see where he goes next in his career journey!
Ted joined one of our Newton Abbot teams for a week in July as he was keen to learn if accountancy
was the right career for him.
He was vigilant and enthusiastic in his work and particularly enjoyed finding out the ‘why’ behind
work and asked plenty of questions to ensure he was completing work correctly and deepening his
own understanding.
The team said he has a bright future ahead of him!
Ted shared some lovely feedback with us:
“I am writing to thank you for the opportunity to do my
work experience at your company, and how welcoming everyone was to me during the week. I
enjoyed learning about accountancy and tax returns and trying it on real people businesses. Thank
you to all the people I met and worked with who made my time at Darnells very welcoming through
everyone’s kind and helpful character.“
Lilia joined our Totnes team for a week in June to learn more about the world of accountancy.
Lilia performed her tasks admirably, demonstrating a good understanding of excel and asking
questions to learn as much as she could. She conducted herself in a mature and professional
manner and the team enjoyed working with her.
We wish you all the best in your future endeavours!
Matthew joined our Totnes team in February as he is looking for a career in finance. He worked
closely with the trainees and managers in the team to gain a hands-on understanding of our daily
operations as well as gaining experience with how to complete accounts from start to finish.
He definitely had a natural aptitude to finance!
Matthew shared some wonderful feedback with us:
“Darnells was perfect with friendly staff to get to
know and also how there was always work that was available so all of it was a positive experience for me.”
We wish you all the best in your journey, Matthew!
Hayden joined one of our Newton Abbot teams in July during the busiest work experience week!
He worked closely with other trainees to learn accounts, VAT and reconciliation. They were
impressed with his ability to learn, ask questions and apply it to the work so much so they had to find
more work than planned!
Hayden provided us with great feedback (and treats!):
“Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for giving me this opportunity, being so hospitable,
helping me gain new skills and an amazing experience. I really enjoyed my time here, so much in fact, that I bought some chocolates”
This year our Exeter team had three University students join them for work experience to learn more
about the world of accountancy and how their studies apply to the work carried out in a practice.
They all found the experience invaluable and were able to apply what they have studied to the work
and make that important connection between the two.
We wish you all the best with your degrees and for your future careers!
Through our work experience programme, we offer real-world opportunities for students to immerse themselves in a world of learning and opportunity to gain valuable skills and insights into the industry. But don’t just take our word for it—here’s what some of our recent participants had to say about their time with us:
Tom spent 3 days with our Totnes team, spending time with different members to get a real hands on understanding of what we do each day. He had a variety of tasks to do and approached each one with enthusiasm! His favourite part of the week was working with our charity expert where he learned how to sample and audit work. He was super focused and enjoyed his time trying out everything that was passed his way! The team said he is a confident, diligent and intuitive student.
Keep it up Tom and we believe you will go far!
“The people at Darnells have all been very supportive and helpful, always answering any questions I had and aiding me to learn all about accountancy. As well as this the tasks I have been set are all a suitable level of difficulty for me which challenge me and allow me to learn. My placement has been enjoyable and comfortable and has given me an insight into the world of accounting and a few of the aspects of it such as auditing and sampling. I would recommend Darnells to any student looking to go into the accountancy industry, the people here have provided me with a fun, educational experience which has taught me a lot about accountancy and the aspects within it. My favourite part of the experience was learning how to sample and audit with Catherine, I found it interesting and enjoyable. I’d like to say a big thank you to those who helped to organise my work
experience and to those who have made me feel welcome and taught me about accounting.”
Daisy was this us for a few days at our Newton Abbot office. She spent 2 days with one of our teams looking at different files, organising invoices, learning about VAT returns and other tasks. It was a busy time for her! The team said she is a hardworker, has great listening skills and gave it her all when completing tasks.
We wish you all the best in your journey Daisy!
“Thank you very much for having me for work experience, everyone has been really helpful, and I have enjoyed my time here. My favourite part was learning how to start a VAT Return.”
Daisy also sent a card as a thank you which had the following feedback:
“To everyone at Darnells, Thank you very much for having me for work experience last week and for making me feel so welcome. I would like to especially thank Phoebe and Veronica for the time they spent with me and the insight they gave me into a career in accountancy. Best wishes.“
Zalika came to us on our busiest week, where we had 3 other students in different teams also with us.
They had a great time working across our departments and learning the ins and outs of accountancy. They all approached the experience with open minds and a positive outlook (even with the mundane tasks)!
They worked on a variety of tasks such as creating a set of accounts, VAT returns, tax returns, invoice reviews, auditing files, bookkeeping and so much more.
“I have really enjoyed working with you and everyone else this past few weeks and will definitely be considering this career path in the future!”
Eleanor was based at our Totnes office for the week. She worked closely with our Charity expert during that time learning the importance of auditing files, sampling and ensure accurate information is recorded. She also supported with a tax return and learned about the information needed for this and why.
“Thank you for letting me have my work experience at Darnells. I enjoyed working with Catherine and Bill learning about audit work.”
We wish you both all the best.
Charlotte and Zac were two of 4 students and came to us on our busiest week across the company!
They had a great time working across our departments and learning the ins and outs of accountancy. They all approached the experience with open minds and a positive outlook (even with the mundane tasks)!
They worked on a variety of tasks such as creating a set of accounts, VAT returns, tax returns, invoice reviews, auditing files, bookkeeping and so much more. What a packed week!
Zac had a knack for tax returns we found and Charlotte enjoyed the finer details of accountancy.
We wish you all the best in your journey Charlotte and Zac!
“I have enjoyed my time here and the people are lovely. I think I have been shown an accurate representation of what working here would be like. My favourite part has been writing up a set of accounts.”
“…My time was very enjoyable, and I believe it was a valuable experience for me. The people I was working with were friendly and welcoming which enabled me to have a great work experience. I would say that my favourite task was doing the tax returns. Thank you to everyone, Have a great summer, Zac”
We had the pleasure of welcoming Harry for a few days at our Newton Abbot office.
He spent 2 days with one of our teams looking at different files, organising invoices, learning the joys of bookkeeping and about VAT returns and other tasks. It was a busy time for him!
We wish you all the best in your journey Harry!
“Firstly, I’d like to say thank you for the experience I have had this week. It has been both helpful and enjoyable. Dom and Heather have been perfect mentors and have made me feel very welcome. It has also been interesting to see what they do. I have learnt what it is like to work within an office as well as what a career in accountancy involves, which is exactly what I was hoping for from this placement. My favorite part was learning how to do tax returns today with Dom but also, I found the data analysis of invoices interesting too. I found the tour with you at the beginning of placement helpful in order to settle my nerves and all the staff here have been kind in greeting me, which has also helped. I am still not settled on an idea of what I would like to do as a career, but I do know that if I choose the route of accountancy, Darnells would be the perfect place.
Thank you again for this opportunity.”
We had the pleasure of welcoming Kristian and Harry to the team in Newton Abbot in 2023!
Kristian spent the week with the Administration team to understand what they do to support and ensure smooth running at Darnells. He worked with IT, HR, Reception and the Filing team which gave him a variety of skills across all areas. He was a hard working person and always looking to learn however much he could from his time with us. He spoke to us about how he wished to start working as soon as possible so we taught him how to write a CV, covering letter and top tips for interviewing.
“What an experience! I worked in the admin department for a week with some of the friendliest staff I have ever met. As soon as I walked through the door I was treated like a friend”
Harry spent his week with Louisa’s department and worked alongside the trainees and managers to get a real hands on understanding of what we do each day. He worked on tax returns, limited company accounts and even some bookkeeping. Harry is looking for a career in finance so this was a great way to learn more and gain insight. He is a a natural with numbers and has a fruitful career ahead of him!
“I learned how to apply mathematical and pattern spotting skills into a work place when I was reviewing limited companies with the kind help from Louisa’s team”
We wish them both the very best success.
