University leavers are increasingly turning to graduate trainee schemes with public sector organisations in order to work in finance but avoid the pitfalls of the troubled banking sector.

There has been a 20% rise in the number of graduates enrolling for the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's (Cipfa`s) main award - a qualification primarily sponsored by public sector employers.

The increase is driven by a growing need from the public sector to have skilled financial managers in place to help organisations out of the recession, along with an increase in suitable candidates, according to Cipfa.

Adrian Pulham, Cipfa's director of education and training, said: "If history can be any guide, the last two recessions demonstrated that at a time of [relative] contraction in public spending, you actually need not necessarily more, but at least an equivalent number of highly skilled financial managers to manage the process."

Raymond Madden, executive director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said interest in the relative security of state employment is growing among graduates, with the public sector "viewed as a safer haven than being at an investment bank".