Life at BKL

If you’re thinking of a career with BKL, you’ll want to know what it’s like to work here…

Our culture

We’re creating a culture where everyone can feel and be their best. Working in a profession with a reputation where numbers matter more than people, we put people first. At BKL we exist to make a difference to the lives of our people, clients and communities. We believe that by putting our people first we’ll all be more successful.

What does that mean for people at BKL? In part, it’s about flexibility and choice: we’ve embraced flexible working; our IT strategy emphasises working on any device, anywhere at any time; and every day is dress-down Friday. It’s also about giving everyone a voice: we have whole firm meetings called From The Horse’s Mouth, where senior leaders talk to everyone about the business and answer questions; and we’ve also set up open sessions for anyone to come and speak to the BKL Board about their creative and innovative ideas. If our people are in an environment where they have a voice and can work at their best, then we have happy people and happy clients.

Running through all of this are our values, which we developed through conversations across BKL:

Think big
Take pride
Do the right thing
Enjoy it
In it together

Working with clients

As well as working with people who are proud to be here, you’ll also get to work with exciting, innovative clients who trust us to help them grow, in the UK and internationally. If you’re starting out as a trainee, you will be in touch with clients early on in your career. There’s so much variety, including a few names and brands you may have heard of:

Terry’s Chocolate
Creative Diversity Network
nChain and a growing number of blockchain, crypto and other fintech businesses
Hush Homewear
Fusion Students
Palmer’s
Bridge Theatre
Claude Littner, who let us interview him!

‘At BKL, we respect our clients by consistently delivering a high quality service. We know they appreciate our honesty and trust our opinions. Loyalty runs both ways and we forge great working relationships. These values filter into how we work together as a team too, giving us a happy workplace.’

Thomas Li, Cloud Accounting Business Supervisor in our Advance Business Services team (joined BKL as an apprentice through social mobility charity LTSB)

Take the tour

We enjoy showing visitors around our office. You can explore it virtually too…

Diversity and inclusion

As we continue to create an inclusive business, the more we understand that inclusion is about fairness and providing opportunities to people that they might otherwise not get. For example, roles are advertised on our intranet, called Yoda, before we publish them externally.

In a truly inclusive culture, initiative comes not just from senior leaders but from everyone at BKL. Mosaic, our impact forum, help us to celebrate our diversity and support our wellbeing through activities, initiatives, information on Yoda and competitions. Here’s an insight.

As well as learning from each other at BKL, other organisations are with us on our inclusion journey. We’ve been working with social mobility charity LTSB (Leadership Through Sport and Business) since they were founded in 2012. We provide an 18-month apprenticeship, which has proved incredibly fulfilling as almost 10% of our employees have come through the LTSB scheme.

External recognition helps us to know that we’re on the right track, so we were proud to be the Taxation Awards 2023 winner for Best Employer in Tax and the Accounting Excellence Awards 2023 winner for Tax Team of the Year.

Supporting our people

Some of the ways in which we look after and listen to people who work at BKL are:

Employee benefits – including health cover, reward scheme, season ticket loans and subsidised gym membership
Referral rewards – payments for employees who introduce new clients and colleagues
Trained mental health first aiders
A combination of periodic employee surveys and individual colleague feedback surveys (Truth Teller) to support professional development through open conversations

‘It’s really important, especially when starting out, that you’re willing to help each other. Everyone is extremely helpful at BKL and will give you their time to help you progress. In return, as you become more advanced, you are able to ‘pay forward’ the guidance you received and advise newcomers, which feels great.’

Sam Goldman, Senior Manager in our Advance Business Services team (joined BKL as a trainee)

Where we are

Our location in Finchley, North London, means that many of our people don’t have to worry about a commute into and out of Central London. We have local parking for those that drive and good public transport links with Finchley Central tube station (Northern Line) a few minutes from us.

There are plenty of places to eat nearby, with parks and gardens a short walk away. And we have to mention that the nearest pub is next door to us.

We completed a major office refurbishment in 2020. When you come through our doors, you get to enjoy a fresh, modern workplace – from big screens to coffee machines (we get a lot of good comments about them), quiet rooms to high-tech meeting rooms, booths to the balcony, and our newest additions: two full-body massage chairs available to everyone in our wellbeing room.

Being a B Corp

In 2022 BKL became a Certified B Corporation: rare among UK accountancy firms of our size. As part of a global community dedicated to balancing profit and purpose, we’re entering an exciting new phase. In joining BKL, you will be able to play a part in helping us reach even higher standards in our social and environmental performance.

Finding out more

For an insight into what’s been happening at BKL recently, have a look at the latest issue of our magazine Discover.

Latest issue: Summer 2023

Our jobs page has current opportunities for starting or advancing your career at BKL.

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