Do more with less: An accountant's busy season survival guide

Did you know that 45% of practices are severely affected by staff shortages? Or that 74% of accountants feel that staff shortages in the industry have got significantly worse compared to three years ago. The shortage isn’t new, but it is serious.

It’s not going to solve itself either. It’s predicted that by 2050 there’ll be a shortage of 60,000 accountants in the UK, with cities outside of London, such as Nottingham and Manchester, feeling the effects the most.

And it’s not just about a staff shortage, practices are feeling the crunch from a variety of other external and internal factors.

However, tax season will come around, as usual, every year. And as an accountant, you’ll find that your clients still expect the same services from you—hitting deadlines by producing tax returns, sometimes last minute.

In this blog we look at ways you can optimise your workflows and practice management for efficiency during busy season; from automating time-consuming tasks, to outsourcing work.

Here’s our tips and tricks for how to manage stress and survive the accounting busy season.

Three challenges the accounting industry is facing that impacts tax season
 

1. The staffing crisis
   
   You’re likely aware of the staffing crisis facing the accounting industry, as its impact is being felt everywhere. While larger firms may be able to handle the shrinking talent pool by offering larger salaries and putting budget into hiring, it’s the smaller firms that will feel the impact most, particularly those outside of London.  
   Smaller practices are spending more on recruitment expenses, while employees take on heavier workloads in the meantime, and may experience more dissatisfaction with their job as a result. 
   However, this doesn’t need to cause you stress during busy season. We look at solutions to these common challenges later in the article.
     
2. Rising costs
   
   As inflation has soared over recent years—the result of COVID-19 and the war in Europe—the cost of living soared. This has been felt throughout accounting practices.  You may have found employees are looking for higher wages and office rent is costing you more. This makes it hard to survive in a tough market, but you’re not alone, and there are ways to optimise your practice for cost savings. For example, cloud accounting enables remote work as a competitive advantage, and saving on office rent, while automation cuts your costs and frees up your staff to focus on higher-value advisory work.
    
3. Regulatory changes
   
   Frequent changes in accounting standards and regulations can be time-consuming and costly to implement—particularly when you’re amid busy season.  Small firms rarely have the luxury of a designated member of staff who deals with training and record keeping for compliance and regulations. This means it’s down to you to stay on top of changes and ensure you’re remaining compliant. Plus, it seems like there’s little time for training to ensure you’re staying up to date, when clients are often prioritised over everything during the tax season.

How to cope with busy season and do more with less
 

Because of these challenges at play during busy season, it’s a stressful time for accountants—beyond the increased workload and pressure to balance your personal life with your work life.  

“To thrive during busy season, it’s all about getting organised,” says Dorcas Mbwiti, Senior Product Manager at Wolters Kluwer. “Ensure your clients have clear deadlines, distribute the workload evenly, prioritise tasks, and take breaks to make time to recharge.”

With the right measures in place, it doesn’t need to be. Here’s how to ensure you’re in a good position and can cope with busy season.

Streamline your processes
   

Personal tax return season is all about being agile and streamlined as a practice. The easier you can communicate, pivot priorities, and get a job done, the more likely it is you’ll have a stress-free busy season. A few ways you can streamline processes include:

• Consolidating your tech stack and moving to one integrated system. This way everyone in your practice can work and share data in the same system for ease. No more rekeying data into different software, instead your tech stack does the work for you.
• Using project management tools and effectively delegating tasks ahead of the tax season means you’re in the flow when it does come around. No need to stress about setting up new ways of working as everyone will already be trained and prepared.
• Ensure you and your colleagues or employees are all on the same page. Knowing what you need to prioritise and who is managing what means there’s no delays when you’re dealing with work.
• Choose systems which integrate with your clients’ software to save both you and your clients time.

Optimise your workforce
 

Bringing in extra help can assist you in managing workload during busy seasons. Whether this means bringing in more accountants for bookkeeping or tax preparation, having extra help on hand can be the key to success.  

That’s why CCH Personal Tax offers temporary licenses you can bolt onto your existing usage for busy season—you get all the extra output without the cost of an all-year license.  

Optimising your workforce might include extra training and support for your staff during the busy season, and ensuring workloads are managed. Plus, virtual assistants and new technologies allow your staff to automate many of the jobs they might usually spend hours doing.

Use the right accounting software for your practice
 

“Practice management software gives you visibility during busy season,” Mbwiti says. “You can see who did what, when and how; when deadlines need to be met; and what tasks are overdue. This helps you to manage your jobs, streamline processes, hit deadlines, and reach your practice goals.”  

When looking for the right software solution to carry you through busy season, you should consider:

• Scalability, and whether you’ll need extra output during this time of year.
• Cost, and returns on your investment—what does it enable you to do?
• Whether this software will keep you compliant and help spot errors or anomalies for you.
• If it offers the right functionalities and tools for your practice—such as automation tools and good software support when you need it.

These may only be a few examples of what you should look for, but in short you want software that does the heavy lifting for you. Through tools such as automation and integration, you should be able to cut the time spent on manual tasks and trust your software to work with both you and your clients.  

Plus, as compliance and changing regulations are an ongoing challenge, software with built-in regular updates and compliance features are hugely useful. This is one of the many reasons cloud solutions are often preferred.  

Automate manual and repetitive processes
  

Personal tax automation significantly reduces the time spent on routine tasks. Automated systems can quickly organise data, perform calculations, and generate tax returns, freeing up your time for more strategic activities—such as relationships with clients.    

For example, our Personal Tax Automation Tool (Powered by FD Intelligence) uses Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to collate documents, identify, and extract tax-related information, transport data, store the documents, and chase clients. So you can set up alerts to go out to your clients when they haven’t uploaded their data—no need to think about chasing them over email when you’re busy.

With RPAs, you can process more tax returns in less time, while ensuring compliance with tax regulations and freeing up staff to focus on higher-value tasks.

Prioritise and delegate
 

During personal tax season delegation is key. Often you can’t do everything yourself, though it feels like you should. Go into this time of year with a strategy regarding who works on what. Providing clear instructions and support lightens the workload for everyone involved, as each employee knows what their tasks and deadlines are. By prioritising tasks and being flexible, your colleagues will find it easier to get their jobs done, ensuring overall success for your practice.

Increase efficiency with cloud technology
 

Cloud accounting technology connects your practice during tax season and makes it easier to manage rising costs. Here’s how: 

• Cloud accounting allows employees to work remotely, negating the need for office space all the time—also saving you on utilities and increasing employee job satisfaction.
• Cloud software means you get automatic updates across the internet, so you’re better able to access new features and functionality and remain compliant.
• Stay connected with your colleagues through cloud solutions, as they allow you to access data in real time, sharing live changes and updates with colleagues and clients.
• Save money through cloud accounting not just through reduction in utilities and office space, but also on cloud software’s pay-as-you-go model. And there’s no need for on-premise installations or updates—just pay for the solution and licences you need.

Manage client expectations
 

Your clients are at the heart of your business—if they’re happy, you’re happy. By effectively managing client expectations, you can help alleviate stress (for both you and them) and maintain positive relationships. Consider these strategies for keeping clients happy during busy season:

• Clear communication: Maintain open and honest communication with clients throughout the tax season. Inform them of important deadlines, potential delays, and any required documentation.
• Realistic timelines: Set realistic expectations for the completion of tax returns—once again linking to clear communication. This will help you avoid overpromising and underdelivering.
• Proactive updates: Keep clients informed of the progress of their tax return. Provide regular updates, especially if there are any delays or unexpected issues. Plus, automated reminders mean you keep your clients on track without needing to lift a finger.

Thrive, don’t just survive, this tax season
 

With the introduction of MTD for ITSA scheduled for April 2026, tax returns won’t be coming around any less—instead you’ll be required to submit tax returns on a quarterly basis. Introducing these practices won’t just pay off during busy season, but once MTD is introduced too.

While you’re up against a range of challenges, it’s not all doom and gloom. With the right tools under your belt, and the correct systems in place, you’ll be able to do more with less during busy season.