10 Reasons Students Go Crowe

Much of your training to become a CPA is about what you learn on the job. You have your university education, but can you practically apply your knowledge? You will be supported by your supervisor, manager, and senior manager on each job, and our partners' doors are always open. You’ll be matched with a CFE mentor who works with you on a weekly basis, or more often when needed, to help you stay accountable to yourself and provide value added input to your study process and case writing skills. 

Crowe MacKay’s CFE prep program is integrated with the Densmore finalist program throughout the year you write your CFE. Every year in January we deliver a student conference with two days of CFE prep training with Densmore. The purpose of the training is to teach you how the exam is structured and marked, how studying for the exam is different from anything else you’ve studied for, and what you should be doing early in the process to increase your likelihood of success. During this weekend you’ll write, mark, and debrief your first simulations.

All of our CFE candidates attend Densmore summer school and our CFE study plan and results tracking is integrated with the Densmore process. In late August, we deliver a final Densmore session designed to respond to issues you’ve encountered during your study process - to enable you to use the last two weeks of the study period to address any outstanding issues before exam days. This session also teaches you how to appropriately wind down before your exam to increase the likelihood that you’ll be in your best form on each exam day. From technical skills to creating healthy habits, we are with you on every step of your CFE journey.

Every year we deliver the Crowe MacKay Student Conference, a gathering designed to ensure you meet your colleagues from all of our offices and help you to develop relationships that often last throughout your career. We deliver technical training at this event but also set aside a significant amount of time for networking and team activities. We’ve gone dog sledding in Yellowknife, driven Segways through Edmonton’s river valley, did wine tastings in Kelowna, and attended a hockey game in Vancouver. Each year we explore one of the cities our offices are located in, giving you the experience of seeing these lively communities in person.

 - Riza Ponce

At Crowe MacKay, we believe in training the whole professional. What does this mean? While your technical skills are the foundation of your career, your long term success largely depends on your ability to develop your personal skills. This includes your abilities to network, communicate across generations, balance competing priorities, manage difficult conversations and relationships, and understand and respond to ethical dilemmas. These issues are relevant to both your professional and interpersonal tool box. Receiving your designation is only the first step in your career journey.

Get experience abroad and work on receiving your designation. Our secondment opportunities temporarily send staff from participating Crowe MacKay offices to another within our Crowe Global network. This trade of talent is meant as a means of sharing resources to support member firms as workload fluctuates throughout the year, as well as offer individuals a unique and rewarding experience.

For our young professionals, secondment opportunities do not only allow them to be immersed in another culture and business setting, but also greatly enhances their professional development and network. These paid assignments typically last two to four months, with traveling expenses, including travel insurance, covered by the hosting office. Details on participating Crowe MacKay offices, eligibility, secondment assignments, and more can be found on our secondment page.

Because sometimes life doesn’t go the way we thought it would. We understand life can throw you curve balls and when this happens we are committed to working with you to create a flexible work plan. As much as we are confident in our training and support systems, we also understand the pressures that exist on your CFE journey.

Our commitment to raising the bar translates to your success. In providing you the training to acquire your designation, we also place an emphasis in creating well-rounded professionals. 

Ensuring our CFE training is the best it can be is just one piece of the puzzle. Crowe MacKay’s CFE mentorship program is also integrated with Densmore’s training. Each year we modify mentor training that builds upon the knowledge we’ve developed in the past. We evaluate the previous year’s CFE report, considering issues that have arisen either in the exam setting or during the previous year’s summer program with a view to continually increase our internal mentorship skills. Every year, together with Densmore, we set aside a day to train all of our CFE mentors based on our updated mentorship protocols.

The Crowe MacKay culture is built on the core values: We Care, We Share, We Invest, We Grow, and in living these values and having them guide us in our practice we are committed to making a difference. We believe in creating a culture that grows exceptional professionals in the industry who want to help clients succeed and have an impact in their community. We are continually learning and growing to be better for our clients, colleagues, and communities as we build a diverse and inclusive team across northern and western Canada.

Crowe MacKay inspires impactful global citizens through a corporate culture of care.

We place value on investing in our communities. We inspire impactful global citizens through a corporate culture of care by focusing on four pillars of corporate social responsibility: Community & Global Enrichment; Organizational Health; Economic Responsibility; and Environmental Stewardship. Through these pillars we are creating well-rounded teams who care for their communities, workplace, the profession, and the environment. If we’re being honest, we don’t have room to share all of our good news stories – but you can read them here and get inspired by our Crowe teams!

When you begin your career with Crowe you will be challenged to step out of your comfort zone, create relationships, take a risk, and try new things – and we are talking both in and outside of work. Challenge yourself to work in different service offerings; learn about new industries that we serve clients in; volunteer with a local charity; attend that networking event — whatever it is, you’ll be supported in creating your personal brand.