“Busy” is a word accounting firms are intimately familiar with. The business comes with consistently heavy workloads, tight deadlines, and regulatory complexities. And the industry in its entirety is at its busiest in the first quarter of the year, when schedules need to adapt to high demand.
With a limited workforce and resources, accounting firms often struggle during these periods, leading to unmet deliverables and increased stress.
In this post, we share survival tips and strategies for accountants in accounting firms to navigate the 2025 accounting busy season successfully and maintain work-life balance.
What is the accounting busy season?
The accounting busy season is marked by an immense workload and intense pressure for accounting firms. It usually runs from January to April. This busy season cuts across every niche of accounting practice, from tax preparers to auditors. Each of these roles faces unique challenges, including tight deadlines, complex reporting requirements, and regulatory compliance.
Key events such as tax filing deadlines, year-end financial reporting, and audit requirements converge during this period, and that’s what makes it such a busy season for accounting firms. It’s marked by long working hours, increased stress, and the need for meticulous organization.
Despite its challenges, the busy season is critical as it ensures financial accuracy, regulatory compliance, and preparedness for the new financial year.
How many hours do accountants work during the busy season?
The hours logged by accountants during the busy season significantly surpass the usual 40 hours per week and can reach 80 hours or more, depending on the workload, staffing capacity, and client base of their accounting firm.
When is the busy season for accountants?
The busy season for accountants can differ slightly depending on their specialty and regulatory provisions:
Tax season
Tax season runs from the end of January to the middle of April and from July to October each year. Regulatory timelines make both periods busy for tax accountants, who have to prepare and file returns before the filing due date.
Accounting firms perform a range of other duties for clients during this time, such as providing tax planning advice and ensuring compliance with changing tax regulations.
Audit season
The completion of year-end reports and financial statements ushers in audit season. This is the busiest time of the year for auditors and typically spans from mid-February to the end of April. During this time, accounting firms often juggle client meetings, extensive documentation reviews, and tight deadlines.
Audit season is especially hectic for CPA audit firms that have numerous clients to service while maintaining consistent levels of accuracy and quality.
Year-end reporting season
As the name implies, the year-end reporting season typically occurs at the end of the calendar year, and depending on the business type, accounting firms need to complete several reports. For instance, businesses that operate in regulated industries need to prepare reports on their compliance activities in addition to the usual statements of profit or loss and financial position.
These reports are time-sensitive, and accountants often have to manage them with the same capacity and resources they have outside of the busy season.
Tips to get through the accounting busy season
You don’t have to be stretched thin when things get busy for your firm. Here are some tips to help you navigate the accounting busy season:
1. Use workflow automation tools
Automation is the solution to many challenges these days, and 50% of work today can be automated. This means there’s a lot of room for accountants to cut time spent on data entry, reconciliations, report generation, and other monotonous accounting tasks.
During the accounting busy season, automation could be the difference between meeting and exceeding your accounting firm’s goals or falling behind. But how exactly do you automate accounting tasks?
You can use accounting automation tools with software solutions like Netgain embedded in your enterprise resource planning platform (ERP).
While many accounting solutions offer standalone tools, Netgain provides comprehensive solutions embedded in NetSuite or that integrate seamlessly with other ERPs, giving users access to a centralized platform.
Netgain’s solutions allow accountants to streamline processes across lease management, year-end accounting, and more, significantly reducing workload and improving efficiency.
Explore Netgain with an interactive demo.
2. Collect client documents early
It may sound simple, but it really works: Start early and finish early. Complete your plans well before the busy season and work with clients to ensure reports are ready in advance. This will ensure you have what you need early enough to get a head start on the busy accounting season.
Set clear deadlines with clients and implement a system for tracking progress, ensuring timely submissions, and minimizing last-minute rushes.
3. Prioritize tasks efficiently
Your task list can quickly get convoluted without proper organization and prioritization. In addition to starting early, you need to work fast and complete tasks based on their priority levels. One way to manage this is to tie tasks to deadlines or rank them based on urgency.
Create a structure for task prioritization. Many corporate organizations work based on when tasks get to their desk, but this may not be effective for complex accounting work.
Instead, create a matrix to prioritize tasks based on sensitivity, regulatory deadlines, urgency, and client expectations. This ensures you focus on the most critical tasks first, improving efficiency and reducing the risk of missing important deadlines.
4. Optimize your team’s delegation processes
Delegation is standard practice in accounting firms and is one of the main pillars of the accounting profession. During busy periods, this is more important than ever to enhance efficiency.
Focus on clear communication, setting precise expectations, and conducting regular check-ins to ensure delegated tasks are on track. This not only maintains accuracy and timeliness but also helps team members effectively manage their workloads during busy accounting periods.
5. Communicate clearly with your clients
The client plays a major role in ensuring that work progresses smoothly during the busy accounting period, especially when they outsource accounting roles to your firm.
Maintain open communication lines with clients to clarify expectations and provide updates. Set clear deadlines and ensure you can reach them on various channels for quick responses. Make sure this communication is a two-way street—let clients know how they can reach you to ask questions when needed.
6. Stay updated on tax law changes
The last thing you want as an accountant is for tax law changes to catch you off guard at the last minute. Ensure that you and your team are well informed on the latest tax regulations. One way to do this is to use tools that help with compliance.
Netgain offers cost-effective tax compliance with NetAsset Tax Pro. This tax solution quickly generates tax reports like Form 4562 and waterfall or roll-forward reports. It also connects with tax accounting software like QuickBooks Online easily for enhanced efficiency.
7. Take a break
According to CABA, 55% of accountants suffer burnout compared to 41% of peers in other sectors. Evidence suggests that the busy season contributes to this burnout rate.
While it may feel impossible in the middle of a busy season, being intentional about taking breaks helps accountants maintain work-life balance.
Experts have shared ways to achieve work-life balance during periods like month-end close, including setting boundaries and practicing regular self-care. Accountants can also use accounting technology like NetClose to automate month-end close tasks and reduce their workload.
Learn more about accounting busy season
Here are answers to your most asked questions on accounting during the busy season:
What is the busiest time of year for an accountant?
The busiest time of the year for accountants is usually in the first quarter (from January to March). For some accountants and accounting firms, this can extend into April.
Why do accountants have a busy season?
Accountants have a busy season because of tax filings, year-end audits, and financial reporting deadlines. This creates a concentrated period of high workload and pressure as accountants and auditors work to meet tight deadlines and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
What months are tax busy seasons?
The tax busy season runs from January to April and July to October yearly due to regulatory tax filing deadlines. The busy tax season impacts accountants’ work hours and work-life balance, as they often work for longer hours and experience higher stress levels compared to other parts of the year.
Get through busy season with the best accounting software
The busy accounting season can be hectic, with tight deadlines and heavy workloads. But with the right software, accountants can navigate this time without burning out.
Netgain is a powerful suite of accounting solutions driven by AI and automation. The platform offers a comprehensive range of solutions for accounting firms, such as NetAsset TaxPro, NetAsset for Firms, and NetLease for Firms, that can significantly ease workflows during the accounting busy season.
NetAsset TaxPro automates asset creation, depreciation schedules, and tax compliance with AI-powered efficiency. It also generates essential tax reports like Form 4562 and waterfall/roll-forward reports and can seamlessly integrate with your existing tax software, a critical asset for accounting firms during the busy accounting season.
NetLease for Firms is designed to automate routine accounting tasks and address staffing shortages. It streamlines operations with tools that eliminate manual errors and save valuable time. Additionally, the solution ensures compliance and simplifies audits with built-in support for ASC 842, IFRS 16, and GASB 87 and 96.
Request a demo to learn how you can thrive during the accounting busy season with Netgain.
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