Crowe goes the distance to help its employees thrive

For Sacha Robillard, a senior tax manager at Crowe BGK LLP, the firm has provided uncommon support on the professional level. “I’m someone who likes to work mostly on complex consulting mandates,” he says of his two years at its Montréal office (another is located in Ottawa). “And at Crowe, they’ve provided me with the kind of work I really enjoy. In many other firms, they just ask you to do the work they want you to do.”

But on a personal level, too, the public accounting and advisory services firm has made life easier for Robillard. “One of the main reasons I joined Crowe,” he explains, “is that they were very supportive of the fact that my boyfriend, Maxime Charron, is a trapeze artist with Cirque du Soleil, which travels a lot, and the other place where I had worked was very strict about travelling and working from abroad.

“I told Crowe that it was important for me to join my boyfriend in Europe, the United States or whatever, and to do everything required by my job,” Robillard continues. “And they allowed our relationship to continue amid a very stressful period.” While working, Robillard has been able to accompany his partner as he performed in places including Cairo, Prague, Berlin, Grand Canary Island and various sites in the United States.

For Isabelle Nadeau, a partner in Crowe’s tax department and Robillard’s supervisor, her employer is outstanding because of its human approach, she says. “We’re a professional firm, and therefore our people are at the very heart of our organization. We’re looking for the best talent, and we want to grow them internally and retain them.”

One facet of the firm’s personalized focus is that “we don’t have in the tax department a predetermined career path where you have to stay X number of years at a certain level before you can be considered for promotion,” she notes. “We try to be flexible and give employees every opportunity, so we allow for fast growth when there’s strong potential.”

Nadeau has herself moved up through the ranks during her decade-plus with Crowe, benefiting from the firm’s various training initiatives — and its employee-first ethos. “It’s important for us to retain talent, so people are absolutely key in this organization. Our people don’t see themselves as just a number; we want them to feel they are bringing a unique contribution to the team.”

Robillard attests to that team approach. “In other accounting firms, most of the time the partner signs off on the mandate, but you don’t really talk to them unless you’re a senior manager,” he says. “If you’re junior staff, you probably don’t talk with the partner that much — you really just deal with just the next level in the hierarchy. Whereas at Crowe, we all really work together. For me, that is precious because you get experience you otherwise probably wouldn’t have access to.”

And on the day-to-day level, Robillard says, Crowe also delivers. “I’ve been very transparent with my office partners that for me it’s very important to have a good work-life balance. I'm someone who, when I’m at work, gives my 110 per cent, but once I’m done with work, I want to just enjoy life. If I have an appointment at the doctor, I'll just go to my appointment and people trust that, because they see I’m managing my time like a professional.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Montreal’s Top Employers winners, published March 18, 2025 in the Montreal Gazette. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

Crowe always accounts for the value of the human touch

For Justin Purcell, the lead-up to his job with Montréal-based accounting firm Crowe BGK LLP was serendipitous. In 2020, when he was still working on his bachelor’s degree in accounting, he fell into conversation with Crowe chief operating officer Ingrid Jensen at a networking event and, he recalls, “we had this synergy from the start and connected on a human level.”

When he applied for an internship at Crowe a short time later, partner Richard Schnurbach reinforced his sense he was on the right path. “I was never a top-performing student in my accounting courses, and I distinctly remember Richard asking me, ‘So, what happened?’” he says.

“I explained how I had really struggled with the transition from music school to business school — I had no background in it. Richard smiled at me and replied, ‘Wow, someone who is actually honest with us today.’ It was then I knew I had found my place.”

Purcell, now a senior auditor at Crowe, has been at the firm for more than three and a half years, including two four-month internships, and notes that the sense he’s in his ideal job has several facets. “One of the top things that comes to mind is the human connection with the people I work with. You’re able to be your authentic self, and you really feel treated like a person.

“People might think work in accounting means you need to look serious all the time,” he continues, “but I feel comfortable being the open and funny person I am.”

Purcell is currently working on his graduate diploma in chartered professional accountancy (CPA), which he expects to complete in September. And he says Crowe has been hugely supportive of his studies.

“My education has not had to take a back seat at any point. I’ve never felt like I’ve had to be shy to ask for an extra day or two off to prepare for my studies, or if I’m not understanding a certain topic, to approach a manager or another senior on my team and be like, ‘Hey, I’m having difficulties with this. Do you mind helping me?’”

Purcell points out that Crowe offers a grade-point-average incentive for CPA students who exceed a certain mark, something he’s benefited from, as well as a bonus once they’ve achieved that designation.

“Our largest asset is our employees,” says partner Amanda Cappiello, who heads an assurance and consulting team that includes Purcell, “so we really do our best to invest in them as much as possible and really understand what they’re looking for in their careers.”

Like Purcell, Cappiello started out at Crowe while she had yet to get her CPA designation, and she cites not only the firm’s strong support for hires working toward that goal but also its informal but very strong culture of mentorship.

“I’ve had a few great mentors who took me under their wing and showed me different facets of how to become a partner — from business development to client service to technical expertise to people management, which are all huge to run a successful practice.”

The firm is always striving to improve employee experience, she notes. “We conduct surveys to see what drives you, what your satisfaction level at the firm is, and we’re constantly reviewing the results to see how we can make it a better place.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers winners, published April 8, 2025 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.