More than half of young accountants admit they take time off work to avoid busy dates in the calendar, such as tax and reporting deadlines.
Of those who have intentionally avoided the busy days, 44 per cent have admitted to doing so by calling in sick as opposed to booking annual leave.
The issue of absenteeism is perhaps unsurprising, say researchers, with 96 per cent of young finance professionals claiming they get frustrated in their current roles. Of those, 41 per cent cite the reason being that expectations are too high and 39 per cent are frustrated with the lack of recognition.
Lack of time and resource appears to be a resounding factor in their unhappiness, with a third of the 251 candidates aged 18-35 surveyed by AccountsIQ saying they don’t have enough time to complete tasks. And almost as many claim there is too much manual reporting in their work. On top of this, more than a quarter said they have been given an unrealistic workload.
Almost all respondents said they need better technology at work – especially when it comes to analytics.
“Poor morale, frustrations with workload and lack of technological resource among younger professionals threaten to undermine the long-term vitality and performance of finance and accounting,” said Darren Cran, CCO, at AccountsIQ.
“We need to see closer attention to nurturing young finance professionals, who have a different set of attitudes and expectations of their employers than previous generations.
“These young accountants coming through the ranks are already tech-savvy and understand the power of automation and how it can be leveraged to improve their workstreams. It’s important for leaders to provide them with modern tools that remove the manual work they themselves had to endure, to keep them motivated and engaged.”
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