Accountants managing mental health: Advice from the trenches

The article is relevant to members in Australia and New Zealand and was current at the time of publication.

For accountants working in public practice, there are many reasons pressure can build at work, from changing legislation to client demands. 

Recent research from Deakin University suggests there is good reason to pay attention to how people are coping. More than half (53 per cent) of survey respondents reported symptoms of burnout from part of the time to all the time.

Pressure often comes from an accumulation of new requirements, competing deadlines and difficult client conversations, says Jason Robinson FCPA, Director of Future Advisory.

“There is a lot of financial pain out there, and we’re the front line,” he says. “We became accountants to help, and often we have to sit there and listen to clients pouring their hearts out about maybe losing their family home. And of course, there’s a natural flow-on effect to our own mental health when that happens.

“On top of that, when you look at the compliance load that continues to stack up, it can seem a bit like death by a thousand paper cuts – and increasingly, those paper cuts feel a little bit deeper,” Robinson says.

So, what can practitioners do to protect their own mental health and create a practice where employees can do the same?

Know the warning signs

Mental health challenges are not always obvious. The signs can be gradual, showing up as changes to behaviour, concentration or attitude towards work.

“It can show up across three areas: emotional exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy,” says Phil Wolffe, Director and Workplace Wellbeing Expert at Kinex Health.

Emotional exhaustion might mean fatigue that does not improve with sleep, becoming more irritable or finding it difficult to focus. Cynicism can show up as losing sight of why the work matters or feeling disconnected from its purpose. Professional efficacy can decline through persistent self-doubt, losing satisfaction in achievements or struggling with tasks that were once straightforward.

That pattern plays out day-to-day, says Shaun Matthews CPA, Partner at Cor Cordis.

“The first signs we tend to see are procrastination and people struggling to get through the work they’d normally manage. When stress levels rise, people often jump between lots of small tasks rather than focusing on one thing and getting it done, even though that’s usually what would help reduce their stress,” he says.

“We try to ensure there’s a buddy or team structure around our work, and we encourage people to speak up about their capacity and what’s going on in their life, whether that’s personal or work-related.”

Manage energy, not just hours

Managing mental health is not simply about working fewer hours. Different tasks draw on physical, cognitive, emotional and social energy, and a day packed with meetings and difficult client conversations can be draining even when the hours are reasonable.

Wolffe recommends protecting high-focus periods, such as the start of the day, for complex technical work rather than filling them with meetings and interruptions.

“We tend to look at workload as time, rather than how we bring time, energy and focus together. For me, after 3pm, I use my lower-energy time for admin and meetings, while I protect mornings for deep work because I know I can get four hours of work done in two,” he says.

Recovery also needs to be considered when allocating work, particularly extended periods of travel or demanding engagement.

“If someone has just come off a particularly challenging job, especially one that involved months of interstate travel, they’re not going straight into another interstate job,” Matthews says.

Make it easier to ask for help

Having mental health resources available does not necessarily mean people will use them. Alongside Employee Assistance Programs, Wolffe suggests creating regular opportunities to discuss difficult experiences, workload concerns and challenging client interactions.

“Regular one-on-ones, team check-ins or facilitated sessions can make those conversations part of normal practice rather than something that happens only in a crisis,” he says.

Leaders also set the tone. Being open about accessing mental health support can help others see it as a priority.

“I see a psychologist, and I openly discuss that with the team. I talk about her as if she’s my performance coach,” Robinson says. “If you’re working long hours and not stopping to sleep and rest or getting away from your computer, that’s a problem.”

Give people permission to say no

For many practices, managing mental health also means managing capacity.

“For every ‘yes’ there needs to be a ‘no’,” Robinson says. “As accountants, we say yes to everything. It is also important to create a space where it is okay to say ‘no’, and it is okay to communicate that a deadline will need to be pushed back.”

“It comes right down to the business decisions of saying ‘no’ to the wrong kinds of clients. If you take on clients who are high pressure and low pay and ruin your team morale, you will be paying for that.”

Peer networks can help too. “Having a community around you helps. Knowing other accountants are facing similar pressures can make a real difference,” Matthews says.

Ultimately, looking after mental health in an accounting practice is about creating an environment where warning signs can be identified early, workloads can be adjusted and asking for help becomes part of normal working life.