Busy season is finally here! And although mine technically started last week, my thoughts on it remain the same: overwhelming, daunting and exhausting. For those who didn’t know, I went to The University of Texas in Austin for my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Accounting and now work as an auditor for one of the Big 4 accounting firms in Houston
As accountants, we each are given the gift of having a “busy season”. Mine usually lasts from January to May, which is longer than most. In auditing, our busy season is all about making sure that the 10-Ks those companies put out are legit. To me, this time of year translates into 60+ hour work weeks (usually including Saturdays, sometimes even Sundays), little sleep, and spending more time with your co-workers than your family.
Fortunately, I have one busy season under my belt. Unfortunately, it is upon us again. This time around, I have made a commitment to take better care of myself and maintain a work/life balance. From what I learned last year, these are my tips for getting through busy season:
Our last vacation before my first busy season to Disney. Drew was clearly so excited for busy season too!
1. Accept the long hours.
Busy season is called “busy” for a reason. You have a short amount of time to audit a large amount of information. Meaning: it’s time to accept the fact that you will be working late nights during the week (and sometimes even on weekends). Go on your last trips and date nights now, since you probably won’t be able to hang out with friends or see family as much as you’d like. Just remember that busy season is temporary! It is only a few months when you trade social life for work life. Trust me, you will get through it!
2. Recharge on your own time.
Whether it’s a few moments when you get home or on the weekends, make it a priority to recharge. We all know that productivity decreases after working 12+ hours a day, so take time for yourself to avoid burnout. Schedule time for your favorite things. If you love running, go on a weekend run. If it’s making a home-cooked meal, get out your favorite recipes and cook. If you need a great mani-pedi, you go girl! My go-to recharge activities were sleeping in on the weekends and catching up on my favorite TV shows.
3. Stay organized.
This is a must! You are going to have a lot of tasks and emails to manage on a daily basis. You may even be managing interns or staff and have to help them as well. The only way to keep track of what you need to get done is to actually keep track of those things. I write everything down and make a to-do list every day. For my emails, I let them all flow through my inbox. I only mark them as “read” whenever I have addressed or completed that email’s task and then archive it right away. I recently discovered OneNote for my to-do lists and I am in LOVE!
4. Don’t eat too much junk food.
My team has a pretty big snack budget so this one was hard for me. Most audit teams that I know have a pretty great selection of snacks. We have all of the junk food you could imagine (think flavor-blasted Goldfish to Snickers ice cream bars). And as tempting as they may be, try not to indulge too much. It can decrease your productivity and cause you to feel sluggish. If you can mange, pack some fruits and veggies to satisfy your late night snack cravings or opt for a salad at dinner.
5. Take breaks throughout the day.
Busy season is a time spent sitting down and staring at a computer screen all day, so take the time to give yourself mental breaks. If you need to spend 5 to 10 minutes just browsing the web and not look at another excel, do it! (My favorite website to browse is #howshouldweaccountforme. So relatable!) Take a walk around the building. If you have the time, take a break from the office and walk to a new place lunch. Last year I would walk to Starbucks for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Anything to break up your day from auditing will help!
6. Bring comfy clothes to change into for those late nights.
In my opinion, business casual is not comfortable to be in for more than 8 hours. To be in business casual for more than that is just rude. If your team and client are okay with it, change into comfy clothes after business hours. Since our hours last year were typically 9AM to 1AM, my team let us change into comfy clothes around 7PM. By that time, we had eaten dinner and the client was gone for the day. Working for 16 hours a day is no fun for anyone, but if I can be in my favorite pair of leggings and a T-shirt it makes our long days just a little better.
7. Plan a post-busy-season vacation.
This is my favorite tip for surviving busy season. The only way I got through those 5 long months was knowing that I had a fun trip planned when it was all over! I love having something to look forward to and honestly, I feel like a nice trip is well deserved. Since you’re probably on a “blackout” period and can’t take PTO during busy season, you will have plenty of vacation time to use. Last year my first trip after busy season was to New Orleans and it was a blast! This year I’m planning a fun weekend trip with my girlfriends and maybe even a trip to Disney.
As I go into this second week full week of busy season (hello Saturday and Sunday at the office), I plan on focusing on putting these into practice. Hopefully this busy season will be more successful than the last and really put the “balance” in work/life balance!
Happy auditing!
Vivian
