The accounting sector is grappling with a severe mental health crisis, with stress and declining well-being affecting professionals at unprecedented levels.
- Increased working hours, driven by significant skills shortages, are causing substantial harm to accountants’ mental health worldwide.
- Stagnant or declining salaries compared to other professions are deterring new entrants and exacerbating the crisis.
- An exodus of accountants, particularly among younger professionals, is creating a void in the workforce.
- Experts are advocating for strategic changes, including flexible work, career development, and technological innovation, to address the crisis.
The global accounting industry is experiencing a profound mental health crisis, with nearly 88% of professionals attributing their deteriorating mental health to increased working hours due to skills shortages. This is a significant challenge impacting accountants’ work-life balance and stress levels. A worrying one-third of these professionals describe the harm as ‘severe.’
This crisis is not limited to a specific demographic within the profession; it affects everyone from staff members to partners. Young professionals, in particular, are leaving the field in search of better opportunities, as evidenced by the departure of approximately 300,000 accountants in the United States between 2019 and 2022. This trend is similarly observed in significant accounting markets like the UK and Australia.
Salaries within the accounting profession are stagnating or even declining, especially when compared to other fields. For instance, accountants aged 25 to 29 have seen a 6% decrease in their median salaries from 2016 to 2022, while other professions, such as data and management analysts, have witnessed substantial salary increases. This comparative decline in compensation is yet another factor discouraging individuals from pursuing careers in accounting.
Vipul Sheth, Managing Director at Advancetrack, underscores the urgency of addressing these systemic issues, calling for immediate action to mitigate the crisis. Sheth highlights a ‘perfect storm’ caused by the mismatch between supply and demand for accounting talent in key economies such as the U.K., U.S., and Australia.
To combat this alarming trend, Advancetrack has proposed five actionable strategies. These include promoting work-life balance through flexible working arrangements, enhancing career development opportunities, fostering positive work environments, offering competitive compensation and incentives, and leveraging technology and innovation to streamline processes.
The Accounting Talent Index echoes these sentiments, revealing that almost half of the firms worldwide are severely affected by the skills shortage, a figure much worse than three years ago. The perception of accounting as a profession with long hours and high stress is further exacerbating recruitment and retention challenges. Partner hours have increased significantly, with 42% of firms citing over 20% more hours per partner, translating to roughly an extra working day per week.
Immediate and strategic interventions are essential to safeguard the mental health and well-being of accounting professionals globally.
