field representative

tax preparer

tax advisor

fiscaliste

service à la clientèle

FBC Farm and Small Business Tax Consultants

During tax season, a typical workday involves the meticulous task of scheduling and confirming client appointments, which is soon followed by extensive driving Winter across the rural landscapes of Ontario to meet with clients. Commencing your day as early as 6 AM, you find yourself on the road until at least 10 PM, with the majority of your hours being spent in transit – hours that neither bring compensation nor are factored into your overall availability.

While traversing the roads of Northern Ontario, you may find yourself isolated with no support system to rely on. Attempting to reach out for assistance often results in receiving unprofessional and dismissive responses, leaving you to navigate challenges independently.

This role is typically perceived as a stepping stone rather than a long-term career prospect, especially if you enter with no prior experience in tax-related matters or farming. While you do receive training on the necessary software and data entry aspects, true expertise is acquired through hands-on experience and supplementary online courses, which are highly recommended for those seeking to enhance their knowledge.

The most gratifying aspect of this job lies in the opportunity to assist hardworking individuals in preserving a significant portion of their income. However, the workplace itself presents some considerable challenges. Compensation, working hours, inconsistent expectations, and a concerning culture of senior staff appropriating commissions, leads, and clients, all with the tacit support of management, contribute to making this company a difficult one to wholeheartedly recommend.

As a company that's been around since the 1950s, FBC has a strong foundation of development for its staff. As an employee, expect to have an enormous amount of opportunity to grow and develop your knowledge and skill. Highly organized, classroom-setting training is what every new employee goes through. This ensures that all ships are sailing in the same direction.

Monthly tax seminars and a structured learning development strategy ensure that you are constantly supported in your work. You are never thrown to the wolves to figure anything out on your own, and the support system is great.

The salaries offered to the tax consultants are cutting-edge in terms of competition and I dare say that a tax consultant with FBC will likely make more money than a a first, second, or even third year CPA with any of the big four accounting firms of the world.

When you think of an "Alberta-style business", you think of FBC.

There is a strong, alpha-style, go-get-them mentality, and the team rarely walks away from a difficult situation without having at least three solutions to any problem.

There is room to grow and advance in the company most definitely.

The company also offers magnificent bonuses such as an annual reward trip for the highest performing tax consultants, usually to a tropical destination such as the Bahamas or Mexico.

Tax season is very busy and there is lots of money to be earned.

Terrible communications, dishonest representations made to reps, decisions are never made with the employees in mind and if there is a problem created by the company the manager throws the customers under the bus. 

Morale is very low. It all stems from the Manager being ill suited to her job. She has no empathy but wants everyone to give her empathy for the tough job she has. 

Lots of talk about team work but it all focused on meeting her goals and has nothing to do with reps meeting their goals. 

Policies are never explained and the manager does zero training. She yells at you for trying to help customers with problems. Office staff are always new inexperienced but try to do their best. 

Everything is about making new sales. Once a new member is signed up they are treated terribly. 50% of new members quit after 1 year.

Manager uses the reps to work out her management reports in totally wasted day of meeting once a month.

When suggestions are made in ernest she yells at people and ssys it is not company policy. Later she does exactly that thing.

She cried in a meeting when reps made suggestions after she asked for suggestions. 

Expects you to do service work all summer for free or even have to lose money because of your travel expenses. Couldn't care less if you make money. 

Manager never deals with a problem until it is a crisis. Staff turnover is incredible because of her.  

Watch your pay cheques. Good luck getting an ROE in less than 2 months.

Had a good experience working under a great set of manager in London prior to moving to the Smith Falls Branch.

Dealing with people's taxes and their financial situation is stressful - certainly if you care about them and the quality of work you produce and expect your coworkers to produce.  FBC has a great training and onboarding program for employees that are in direct contact with Members and ensure they provide employees with tools to keep them up-to-date on taxes.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, someone will do their best to guide you.  Lots of focus on goals, tracking them and keeping team members accountable to the commitments they make toward their annual goals.  There are a lot of people who have been here for a long time and I think that's telling. 

No company is perfect to work for and there are too many moving parts, particularly if your role is national.  I think the company is making a lot of good decisions to solidify its future and I feel confident in the team we have in place and in the direction we're heading. 

FBC provides a lot of support for it's employees. You are encouraged to take new training courses each year during the "off" season. They are committed to promotion from within. They are supportive of the needs employees with disabilities and chronic illnesses. They promote being involved in one's community with a donation matching program. Their benefits are good and include a health spending account which can be used for anything not covered by the regular benefits.

There is a lot of overtime expected during the tax season but, I feel that is more of an industry con than an FBC specific con. Their pay scale is average. Not low, but not spectacular. Have a bad habit of making decisions without consulting anyone actually involved in the day to day process they are reviewing / changing.

Communication with employees could be improved. Sometimes the people effected most by decisions of upper management seem to be advised of changes at the last moment.

A great bunch of people that feels like family to a degree. There are several events each year - pot lucks, bowling, holiday party, end of tax season celebration, etc.

FBC offers opportunities and support for development, and likes to promote from within. Transfers to other offices in Canada are possible.

Flexible work hours including working from home for some roles. At times you have the option to travel and work out of another office for a spell.

FBC has a long history in an industry that's not going anywhere.

Many long term managers and other employees = a wealth of knowledge and mentoring.


One suggestion for FBC: be more selective with the number and type of projects that a team or department is focusing on at any given time. Sometimes expectations are a bit unrealistic.

Management and coworkers are consistently and genuinely supportive of each other - no-one is expected to be the expert at everything, and folks are always open to helping each other gain knowledge. The company provides extensive training, and supports ongoing learning.
Tax season is understandably very busy, and you are likely to work some overtime during these months which can be banked for future use. Again, folks work as a team to get everything needed done, and support each other.
There can be some difficult customer service interactions - but far fewer than any other service-oriented place I have been!

Worked for them for the better part of 14 years. Didn't get to see my children grow up because the hours are so demanding. I had one of the highest retention rates if not the highest. Was a completely devoted company man. Had a new operations manager start at my office who took a dislike to me and was terminated shortly after because she didn't like me personally. Nothing to do with my performance just a personal dislike. And just like that 15 years of absolute devotion to the company down the drain in an instant for one managers personal dislike. The company allowed it to happen as well. Not a great company to work for. Stay away.

I have truly enjoyed my tenure with FBC, however the job requires upwards of 50,000 km of driving annually and the winter driving in Saskatchewan is wearing on me.  I would not, otherwise, be looking for alternative employment in sales.

Management has been supportive and although co-workers come and go, I have enjoyed meeting and working with, and in some cases even training new start-up employees.

A typical days work involves cold calling for prospects to meet with regards to explaining the benefits of FBC's tax services and signing them up as members.  

I found that actually sitting down and getting involved in the sales process to be the most enjoyable part of the job

The job itself is interesting enough to be fun. The training provided was very beneficial and comprehensive, I feel like I have the skills now to be good at my job and provide good service. Management has shown their appreciation to hard workers. I feel as though there is room for advancement if you are willing to work hard. Morale is good among the staff. Employee retention is high. Members we service are often quick to tell us how happy they are with the work we do which makes employees feel good about their jobs.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Field representative 76 salaries reported	$70,000 per year
Tax preparer 24 salaries reported	$77,500 per year
Tax advisor 19 salaries reported	$67,279 per year
Fiscaliste 1 salary reported	$36.67 per hour
Service à la clientèle 6 salaries reported	$21.50 per hour

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