Australia’s 100 biggest accounting outfits increased their graduate headcounts by 55 per cent this year as the battle for white-collar talent continues, with the big four leading the pack with an average increase of 85 per cent.

The big four consultants nabbed nearly 4700 of the 6200-plus graduates taken on at the 100 firms for the 2022 financial year, but firms across the spectrum of size and location recorded intake growth as high as 300 per cent.