Gold medallist accountant Eleri Davies is determined to make a difference in her career which is being crafted using apprenticeships.

Eleri, 26, who lives in Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, completed all of her accounting apprenticeships whilst working for Audit Wales.

Now she is continuing her learning journey by seeking to become a Chartered Accountant in her new job with Mid Wales housing association, Barcud.

Eleri has now been shortlisted for the prestigious Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2024 as an Apprentice of the Year finalist.

Highlight of the year for apprentices, employers and work-based learning providers and practitioners, the awards are organised by the Welsh Government and supported by the National Training Federation for Wales (NTfW). Headline sponsor is EAL.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held at ICC Wales, Newport on March 22, 2024. The awards highlight the outstanding achievements of employers, apprentices and work-based learning practitioners.

Apprenticeships have helped Eleri get her career back on track after illness forced her to drop out of a degree in Accounting and Finance at the London School of Economics in 2017.

She completed a Level 2 AAT Foundation Certificate in Accounting, followed by an AAT Level 3 Advanced Diploma in Accounting and a Higher Apprenticeship in Accounting through Grŵp Llandrillo Menai. All the apprenticeships were completed with distinctions.

Now she has committed to another three years of learning by seeking to become a Chartered Accountant.

During her time working for Audit Wales, Eleri won an accounting gold medal at Skills Competition Wales as part of the Grŵp Llandrillo Menai team which was highly commended in the WorldSkills UK final.

Last year, she was named Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s Overall and Accountancy Apprentice of the Year.

Apprenticeships helped to develop her role at Audit Wales where she audited public sector clients, often through the medium of Welsh and specialised in analysing financial statements and identifying discrepancies.

“I don’t feel that I have missed out from not doing a degree because the quality of the AAT apprenticeships is so high and I have earned whilst learning,” she said.

“I want my career to make a difference. Accounting makes a huge difference in the public, private and charity sectors because it’s at the core of everything a business or organisation does. It’s my job to make finances simple enough for all people to understand.”

Audit manager Yvonne Thomas, from Audit Wales, said:

“Eleri is committed, enthusiastic, hardworking and exemplifies the value an apprentice can bring to an organisation.”

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething congratulated Eleri and all the other finalists.

“Today's apprentices will be tomorrow's specialists, and Apprenticeship Awards Cymru allows us to recognise apprentices, work-based learning practitioners, and employers that have gone above and beyond. Their tenacity, passion, and commitment to growing their own careers, the careers of others, and the larger Welsh economy is inspiring. I wish each of the finalists the best of luck at the awards and with their future endeavours.”

Congratulating the finalists, Al Parkes, managing director at EAL, said:

“As the specialist awarding organisation and skills partner for the engineering and manufacturing industry, apprenticeships in Wales are especially important to us.

“Apprenticeships play an important role in supporting personal progress through career opportunities and a sense of achievement, while ensuring that employers have the right skills at the right time to keep up with evolving industry needs.

“EAL is committed to encouraging employers to take on apprentices. Marking the achievements of employers, apprentices and work-based learning practitioners at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru is vital to this.”

For more information about recruiting an apprentice, visit: https://gov.wales/apprenticeships-genius-decision or call 03000 603000.