The silent killer that's making accountants run away

You cannot change the system. The system changes you.

You’ve been there. Busy seasons that start well.

Later, you spiral into a nightmare that you can’t wait to escape.

What in the world is wrong with your busy season?

Before I reveal the usual culprits, let’s review a sociology concept: norms.

Norms are standards.

Shared expectation and rules that guide behavior in a social group

People follow norms in a similar way that accountants and auditors follow standards.

But what do norms have to do with your busy seasons?

Simple: You follow norms when you work during busy seasons because people tell you, either directly or indirectly—

That’s the way it’s been done.

That is what’s expected of you.

You pick the norms from the behavior of people around you.

You follow because as a person, you want to be normal.

You want to belong.

You want to be part of that social group.

This mindset is the silent killer of accountants and auditors during busy seasons.

It’s making current and future accountants run away from the profession

From working in a Big 4 audit firm, I’ve observed and even directly experienced these usual norms:

• Working overtime

• Working on weekends

• Working while on vacation

• Sending emails after 6PM on Fridays and sending emails during weekends

• Checking emails at all times of the day

• Being online in messaging channels at all times of the day

• Skipping meals and cutting on sleep hours

Who set these norms? People of course.

If people can set these norms, people can also break them.

You might have seen already how the normal work conventions broke down in the face of the great resignation and quiet quitting.

But, there’s one thing that I want to clarify as you read through the rest of the newsletter.

This is not an invitation to break the rules.

This is an invitation to look within yourself and to reflect on how your actions contribute to the set-up of these norms.

You’re not there to change the system.

You’re not even obliged to.

Rather, change should start from within yourself.

Which of your habits make you busy?

Do you even like not being busy?

Which good behaviors do you want to model for yourself?

The choice is yours.

Shift your paradigm by adopting this mindset:

• I can only change myself, not other people.

• By changing myself and modeling good behaviors, I can create good outcomes.

• The choice to follow those good behaviors is on others.

• I should not choose for them. I should not stress myself if others don’t want that choice.

P.S. If you want to start your own change journey, you might gain an additional insight or two from my mistakes and lessons learned from previous busy seasons.

Thanks for reading. Stay free and happy!

Welcome to Busy Season Journals—stories and experiences to shape accountants of the future. A newsletter made especially for you by a fellow accountant, adventurer, and coach-guide.

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