How to thrive as an accountant or bookkeeper in the new tax year

This content is brought to you by Xero.

While it may only be a short period, a busy tax season can affect practices long after submitting the final return.

Research from the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA) shows that 55% of accountants admit to suffering from stress and burnout. They cite heavy workloads, long hours, and complex work with no room for errors.

There’s no quick fix for mental health. But small daily practices can help you manage stress and protect your wellbeing. Let’s explore some of these strategies so you can take the new tax year in your stride.

Nurture your network

Don’t underestimate the importance of a healthy network. Our communities support us when things don’t go to plan, and celebrate with us when the wins roll in.

So where can you find fellow accounting professionals? You could try:

• in-person and virtual networking events
• industry conferences
• social media groups
• coworking spaces

Beyond providing support, your network can help you achieve your work goals. If you’re snowed under, having a few trusted accountants and bookkeepers whom you can pass work onto helps with balancing client obligations and takes the pressure off you.

Now remote work is mainstream, you might feel like your connections aren’t as strong. With fewer opportunities for casual conversations, we need to be intentional about spending time together. Set aside time for socialising inside and outside of your practice. Think: away days, retreats, and conferences.

These aren’t just good for team building; these events can help you check in with each other about mental health and wellbeing. Especially since it’s not always clear if someone is struggling when viewed from behind a screen.

Embrace flexibility

Flexible working can help you manage your life and work more harmoniously. Just saving on commuting time can give you hours back every week.

Another benefit of flexible working is that you don’t have to pick between practice and personal life. If you’re supporting a loved one or recovering from a restless night, you can adjust your hours to match your energy levels.

Despite being the norm, traditional office hours don’t work for everyone. Some people find their productivity spikes in the evening, while others like to get things done before noon. Instead of battling the 3pm slump, try working with your natural rhythms.

You could experiment with different hours – maybe a later start in the winter (so that you don’t have to get up in the dark), or an earlier finish in the summer (so you can enjoy the sun).

A change in environment can give us a fresh perspective. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might want to explore digital nomadism – where you take your laptop on your travels and work from new destinations.

However you embrace flexible working, make sure you give it structure. Clear boundaries help you disconnect from work and manage expectations. Be open with clients and colleagues about your working hours, so they know when they can reach you.

Grow your skills and confidence

Learning new skills can give you a welcome confidence boost. And when things get tough – as the next busy season comes around – learning new skills can make you better equipped to find solutions.

Learning is also important for a practice’s resilience. The accounting industry is changing fast, and new skills and services are rising in demand. If you’re able to provide new services based on your learnings, you have more ways to earn a living.

There’s no single way to learn, and you’ll probably find a combination of formats helps you build skills best. A first step in your practice could be skills sharing. Perhaps you could invite colleagues with specialised skills to give a short presentation or workshop.

Another way to approach skills sharing is through internal coaching programmes. It’s beneficial for junior and experienced staff alike: junior staff can learn specialised skills and teams can build personal connections.

What’s more, learning doesn’t have to focus on technical skills. You could instead explore mental health and wellbeing. Training to become a mental health first aider, or scheduling a visit from a professional wellbeing expert could be just as valuable to your practice.

Choose tools that save you time

The new tax year is a great time to explore automation, and how it can simplify your to-do list. Automations work by using programmable technology to perform tasks typically completed by humans. They’re like a virtual colleague, who can take care of the more tedious admin for you.

An example of automation is Xero’s bank reconciliation predictions, which automatically match transactions with the right contacts and account codes. You can save lots of time using this feature because you don’t need to hunt down the matches for every individual transaction yourself.

Before committing to new tools, look for hidden functionality in your existing software. Perhaps you already have access to time-saving features.

To assess what you could automate, work out where you spend the most time:

• If keeping track of billable time is laborious, look for connected time-tracking and invoicing software that shows you exactly what you can bill for.
• If copying figures from clients’ ledgers to your tax preparation software takes time, focus on integrated bookkeeping and tax tools that automatically copy records from one system to another. 
• If you’re tired of facing a shoebox of receipts, look for expense management tools that turn tracking expenditures into a much easier task. Clients can simply snap a photo of their receipt and send it to their accounting software.

By addressing mental health and wellbeing from multiple angles, you can build a healthier mind and practice. Take a look at our Brains Behind The Business Hub, which can help provide both you and your clients with the wellbeing support you need to thrive in the new financial year. 

This content is brought to you by Xero.

Hannah Dolan is AAT Comment’s Content Editor.