PROVO — Days like this try an accountant's soul.
As the hours dwindle before Uncle Sam's tax filing deadline, number-crunchers across the country are feverishly double-checking final figures, closing out financial ledgers and brainstorming creative deductions.
And there are always more than a few filers who appear in the office the day before April 15, piles of papers, forms and receipts in hand, demanding immediate assistance.
Scott Sweeney, a certified public accountant at Sweeney-Pierce & Associates in American Fork, says stress levels in his profession are considerable, especially from January to April.
"My partner came in the other day and said, not too nicely, 'Got any antacid?' " said Sweeney.
Antacid makers should take note of a new study written in part by a Brigham Young University professor. The study, found in Behavioral Research in Accounting, says accountants report feeling more job stress than nurses, teachers or social workers.
A sample of 142 accountants from seven states participated in the study. Accountants at a national public accounting firm were interviewed in November 1997 and again in March 1998.
In the accounting world, November is the calm before the storm. At the end of March, accountants are awash in work.
Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The MBI serves as a barometer for emotional exhaustion. In previous studies using the MBI, physicians and social service workers ranked at 22.19 and 21.35, respectively.
Accountants, however, hit 30.7 on the stress meter when asked about stress levels during the busy season.
Preceding the busy season, accountants work an average of 49 hours per week without any direct effect on burnout.
But during the busy season — the period when most audits occur, tax returns are due and services are in high demand — the workload increases to an average of 63 hours per week.
"Accountants go to unheard-of levels of stress at the end of March," said Scott Summers, the BYU accounting professor who helped write the study.
So does the stress lead to ill-prepared tax forms?
Is an IRS audit on the horizon?
Summers says there's no evidence the quality of work suffers.
But many number-crunchers deal with the stress by referring to clients as objects, a common practice for physicians and police officers. "Depersonalization" helps them work through the harried season, Summers said.
"A doctor would say, 'Let's do the kidney, then let's move to the knee, then we'll go to the stomach problem,' " Summers said. "Accountants do that. They say, 'I've got a 1031 at 10:30 and a 1040 after that.' They'll try to distance themselves from the personal side."
Sweeney tells clients to come in during January and February so he isn't swamped in the final weeks.
He advises clients to file taxes as soon as possible.
"If they have to pay, they know they have until April 15 to get the money together," he said. "If they're getting a return, then why should the government have it?"
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