How to survive year-round mandatory overtime in public accounting
Firms shift tax staff into audit work during the off-season to cover understaffing, eliminating all downtime and forcing employees to work 40 to 60+ hours a week year-round. This constant overwork leaves staff exhausted, isolated from their families, and completely drained of energy.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- Most of it landed at once — the busiest month was September 2026, with 14 people.
- This comes up 20.0× more often in r/Accounting than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to survive year-round mandatory overtime in public accounting
- 1Planning to quit the firmDid this help you?
- 2Refusing the reassignment in solidarityDid this help you?
- 3Ignoring non-essential emails and chat messagesDid this help you?
- 4Limiting small talk and social interaction until the busy season endsDid this help you?
- 5Working excessive hours to meet deadlines at the expense of social engagementDid this help you?
- 6marrying another accountantDid this help you?
- 7focusing on maximizing financial compensation instead of personal lifeDid this help you?
- 8working through overtime and sacrificing sleepDid this help you?
- 9leaving public accounting for industry jobsDid this help you?
- 10unionizingDid this help you?
- 11leaving work at 6 pm despite social pressureDid this help you?
- 12Taking a step back to lower-stress roles without billable hoursDid this help you?
- 13Changing firms to seek better balance or higher compensationDid this help you?
- 14Killing yourself for a few years to gain experience before moving to a bigger firmDid this help you?
- 15Budgeting living expenses based on a standard 30-40 hour week and saving the extra overtime pay.Did this help you?
- 16Taking on less physically demanding shop work or training roles to offset the physical toll of field hours.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Explains why most of the partners i’ve worked with have been divorced”source ↗
“Would you expect people working 1.5x-2x what they normally work to behave normally?”source ↗
“It is by far the most boring job I’ve ever had working in BIG4 audit. Not to mention the pay was atrocious compared to the hours worked.”source ↗
“I had a car accident and quit the $100k job. Stress got to me and I’m taking a step back to not have billable hours and get my weekends back. Currently a senior tax accountant.”source ↗
“I neither found love nor did I have money to invest in my 20s.”source ↗
“You spend more time with your co-workers than your families and some people behave like robots and/or turn or are anti social.”source ↗
“Not anymore. More and more efforts to keep busy year round. So busy season is 50-70 and the rest of the year is 50”source ↗
“Boring, low pay, long hours.”source ↗
“it chips away at the part of your brain that remembers how to do small talk about anything except tax deadlines”source ↗
“Debit: Social Battery Expense Credit: Accumulated Stress”source ↗
“It’s boring work, you’re underpaid, the hours are long, there’s always pressure from the guys above you, there’s a cult like energy about the place where you’re looked at weirdly if you want to leave at 6pm to go home to your family instead of staying to work more, etc etc the list goes on….”source ↗
“Am I wrong for thinking this is absolutely insane? We currently have a 60+ hour billable expectation, and we were understaffed over summer, so we have already been utilized to the maximum during the year.”source ↗
“And at my current firm, they want to move us to audit to hit 40+ hours during this time.... so basically no downtime throughout the year.”source ↗
“I'm not adding an extra hour to my already 60hour workweek just because someone wants to chat.”source ↗
“They’re tf tired. Leave them alone”source ↗
“Oh yes. And go to work in dark. Come home in the dark. At times I forgot there was a sun.”source ↗
“Done! Thanks, probably shaved a few years off my life but I learned a lot.”source ↗
“obviously burn out is real but at times people in accounting are just strange individuals.”source ↗
“I have a 24 hour contract but I basically never do 24 hours at my job and iv worked there for nearly 2 years. I sometimes only do 28 but usually it’s 30+ even 40.”source ↗
“I’m meant to only be 4 days a week but often I do 6 to 8 days in a row with 2 days off and then back in.”source ↗
“I’ve done a hundred and it’s punishing.”source ↗
“Had a 155-160 pay period last year that was pretty rough and I work a lot already, anymore I'm cool with 8 in the field and some after hours at the shop doing other work that doesn't beat me down as much.”source ↗
“Yes I did a stint for a few years and it was brutal at times.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 20Why am I too exhausted and overstimulated to parent?
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- 22How to handle severe work burnout and zero motivation
- 40Why are teachers expected to be available 24/7?
- 13How to get HR to approve an ergonomic standing desk for back pain