As a global accounting association and community, INAA is uniquely positioned to understand the continuous disruption that accounting teams have faced over recent years.
Frequent compliance updates, sustainability reporting requirements, new tax frameworks and accelerating automation have all contributed to an environment of constant transition. When these shifts accumulate without time to stabilise, teams experience what is now widely referred to as ‘change fatigue’. This reflects emotional strain, reduced adaptability and a growing sense that the next change arrives before the last one has fully settled.
For accounting firms, the consequences extend far beyond day-to-day stress. Change fatigue affects audit quality, advisory depth, productivity and ultimately staff retention. For example, recent research by the British workplace communication and engagement platform, Oak Engage, surveyed over 1,000 UK employees and found that 37% are resistant to organisational change.
Oak’s findings highlight that resistance is not rooted in reluctance to improve, but in the sheer volume of change employees must absorb. As Change Management expert Hilary Scarlett notes: “Change often takes away some of the things that our brains crave. For example, brains like habits because they feel less stressful and less effortful, but change means we are going to have to do things differently. Change takes away this ability for our brains to predict.”
Why Change Fatigue Continues to Rise in Accounting Firms
The accounting profession absorbs some of the most rapid shifts of any professional services field. Regulatory expectations change frequently, clients expect faster turnarounds, and operational models evolve constantly as firms adopt new technologies. Without deliberate pacing, these pressures compound and contribute directly to accountant burnout.
Even without relying on a specific statistic, wider research consistently shows that burnout risk increases when employees lack influence over workload intensity or the pace of transition. For accountants, the combination of deadline-driven cycles, ever-changing and escalating regulatory commitments creates conditions where change fatigue becomes almost inevitable unless teams are fully supported.
How change fatigue influences staff retention
Gallup, the US-based analytics and advisory firm known globally for its workforce insights, found in its 2024 Global Retention Indicator that one in two US employees are open to leaving their organisation.
The study identified the biggest sources of dissatisfaction, all closely connected to the pressures that drive change fatigue:
- Poor engagement and workplace culture (37%)
- Poor well-being and work-life balance (31%)
Together, these represent 68% of all negative sentiment, indicating that employee dissatisfaction is driven primarily by cultural and environmental strain rather than compensation alone.
Gallup also reports the factors most likely to attract or retain employees are as follows:
- Better work-life balance and wellbeing (59%)
- Higher pay or improved benefits (54%)
- Greater stability and job security (54%)
The Operational and Financial Cost of Change Fatigue
The operational impact of change fatigue becomes visible long before formal burnout. Reduced concentration can lead to documentation inconsistencies, slower review cycles and lower-quality outputs. On occasion, teams may also become less willing to adopt new technologies or processes, which, in turn, slows innovation and reduces operational resilience.
Financially, firms may encounter rising recruitment costs, increased overtime spending and delays in project delivery. Mid-sized firms feel this particularly sharply, since they often lack the buffer capacity needed to absorb inefficiencies. As change fatigue grows, staff retention declines, and the cycle intensifies.
The rise of detachment inside accounting teams
Many workplace analysts now refer to 2025 as the year of the Great Detachment, a trend describing employees who feel emotionally disconnected from their employer.
Gallup’s analysis deepens this understanding and links detachment to five structural forces affecting today’s workforce:
- Rapid organisational change and unstable team structures
- Hybrid and remote work friction
- Shifting customer expectations
- Rising employee expectations around purpose and wellbeing
- Weak performance management practices
For accounting firms, these forces amplify change fatigue and weaken collaboration, confidence and morale across teams.
Strategies to Reduce Change Fatigue and Strengthen Resilience
Reducing change fatigue requires leadership teams to sequence major initiatives more deliberately. Providing context for each change reduces uncertainty, while creating space between transitions helps teams stabilise.
To reduce accountant burnout, firms can strengthen role clarity and provide more control over scheduling, workflow adjustments or training paths. These adjustments support staff retention by helping employees feel more grounded during periods of rapid change.
Finally, member firms within INAA benefit from a global community of peers. Sharing insight across jurisdictions can help teams adopt proven solutions and avoid unnecessary strain during regulatory or operational surges.
Develop Stronger Leaders to Protect Against Change Fatigue
Many of the pressures behind change fatigue stem from leadership challenges, including unclear expectations, inconsistent communication and limited support during transitions. To help firms strengthen their internal leadership pipelines, we have created the INAA Leadership Program, a 12-month development initiative designed for emerging leaders across the association.
The programme focuses on practical leadership capabilities for a global accounting environment, including navigating change, managing diverse teams and strengthening firm-wide communication. For firms seeking to improve staff retention, reduce change fatigue and build long-term resilience, the programme provides a structured pathway designed around the realities of the profession.