All of our graduates join as permanent employees. Designed to attract the very best, it's a varied three-year programme that will give you in-depth understanding of finance in a complex world-leading retail business - and a professional qualification.

Through a combination of placements and core development, you'll acquire technical know-how, increase your self-awareness and develop your personal skills. All with support from some of the best people in their field, including your line manager, a mentor (who will be one of our senior leaders) and an experienced contact to help you through your professional exams.

You'll be putting your career in the safe hands of the winner of the CIMA Large Employer of the Year 2009. We won the award because we stood out from the rest with our 'all inclusive' training and development programme - the Finance Academy.

Qualification
We'll fund you through either ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) or CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accounts) qualifications.

Placements
You'll be based at our Nottingham Support Office - the hub of our business - where you'll experience real jobs in each of our three main areas of Finance: Financial Accounting, Management Information and Business Partnering.

Click on the links below to find out more:

Financial Accounting

The Financial Accounting team operate the financial ledgers and co-ordinate the month-end process for all of the financial transactions in the business. They report the financial results up to Alliance Boots Group Finance and produce statutory accounts for 40 legal entities. The team also ensure that the business is operating adequate controls to safeguard its assets.

Your placement here will give you an insight into complex bookkeeping in a large commercial organisation and an understanding of how we ensure the validity of the items on our balance sheet. You’ll enhance your technical accounting skills, develop the ability to interrogate and analyse information. You’ll also see how we use SAP and learn to plan and organise your work, particularly through the pressures of month end.

Management Information

The Information Management team are responsible for producing and developing management information reports for the business. These reports cover gross profit, costs, cash flow and capital expenditure and the customers of these reports range from the executive to the wider commercial teams. The team work on systems development in order to ensure that our reports are useful, efficient and insightful. They also manage the budgeting and forecasting process for the business.

This placement is an excellent opportunity to gain an overview of how our business is performing and to work on your communication and IT skills. You’ll take on real responsibility for elements of our daily, weekly and monthly reporting. Your internal customers will be predominately in the wider finance function but may also include commercial teams and others across Alliance Boots. You’ll stretch your analytical skills by indentifying patterns and trends in the numbers, analysing what they mean for the future. And you’ll prove your eye for detail and your passion for getting things right first time.

Business Partnering

Business Partnering is the link between finance and the wider business. We have people working in all areas, from marketing and trading to retail and pharmacy. Business partners support the key decisions our business makes, both operational and strategic – deciding whether to invest in new stores or discovering the impact of new product or promotional campaigns.

Your placement in Business Partnering will involve working closely with the wider business to help colleagues make the best decisions for the future. You’ll deliver insights and analysis and help interpret them as well as getting involved with helping the business forecast what they will deliver in the short to medium term. It’s an opportunity to influence the business partners and the decisions they make, and test your communication and interpersonal skills. These roles really do make an impact on the performance of our business.

You’ll also have a placement in store so you understand how Finance supports stores in helping customers look and feel better than they ever imagined. Seeing our business from many different angles, you’ll develop rounded skills and strong commercial acumen.

It’s a tough, demanding journey, but if you’re successful, you’ll be equipped with the key skills, knowledge and experience to launch a fantastic finance career within Boots.

Core Development
To cement what you’re learning on the job in your placements and while studying towards your qualification, we provide lots of what we call “core development” – the theory and structure that will help you build your career.

You’ll also get a chance to attend our CIMA award-winning Finance Academy. Think of it as a learning support scheme, designed to cater for everyone’s different learning styles by using a broad range of delivery methods. From the tried-and-trusted to the latest innovations including talks and courses, mentoring and life-coaching.

Click on the links below to find out more:

Year One
  • Accounting standards
  • Systems training – Level 1 and 2
  • Boots UK Business overview
  • Personal development
    • Presentation skills
    • Time Management
    • Feedback
  • Cross functional graduate projects – working across all Boots UK graduate programmes (Retail, Brand, Marketing, Buying, Finance and IT)
  • Key behaviour competency development using development plans, Monthly Mentor meetings and peer support
Year Two
  • Accounting standards
  • Statutory Accounts
  • Investment appraisal or post audit
  • Systems training – Level 3 and 4
  • Boots UK Business including Budget Book, Finance updates and business briefings
  • Cross functional graduate projects – working across all Boots UK graduate programmes (Retail, Brand, Marketing, Buying, Finance and IT)
  • Key behaviour competency development using development plans, Monthly Mentor meetings and peer support
Year Three
  • Accounting standards
  • CIMA/ACA/ACCA Conference
  • Management Accounts preparation Hyperion Submission
  • Tax Computation
  • Cross-functional graduate projects - working across all Boots UK graduate programmes (Retail, Brand, Marketing, Buying, Finance and IT)
  • Key behaviour competency development using development plans, Monthly Mentor meetings and peer support