The Rhythms of Accounting: Peaks, Troughs, and the Myth of the Even Keel

Summer Rhythms and the Accountant’s Year

As UK schools prepare to break for summer, are you pushing to get things done before staff and clients disappear for “the summer”? This month, I’m reflecting on the natural ebb and flow of business activity in the UK accounting world. Are we unknowingly following the same patterns we learned during our school years? And could embracing those rhythms help us perform better and feel better, all year round?

Up here in Scotland, schools are prepared to down pens and pick up paddles (School’s out on the 30^th of June here) whilst those in England gear up for a few more weeks of classroom endurance.

I’ve found myself reflecting on the sometimes strange, sometimes familiar rhythm of the accounting year. There’s a pulse to our profession, not just a flow of numbers and deadlines, but a very human, very lived cadence we all feel.

From where I sit, in the spell between conference seasons, the cycle of accounting activity in the UK feels less like a straight line and more like a sine wave. Peaks of pressure, troughs of recovery, and a general sense that we’re all riding the same tide, year after year.

December to March: Sprinting Through Tinsel, Spring into Spring

Let’s start with December to March. A period that most accountants will recognise as the industry’s version of a sprint marathon. Deadlines loom large for many limited companies with a March year-end, and that filing window is coming to an end just as mince pies are making their annual reappearance.

I’ve always found it interesting (and mildly ironic) that this peak of activity coincides with the festive season. Traditionally, a time to slow down, relax, and maybe reacquaint ourselves with Advent chocolates and holiday logistics. But not for many UK Accountants. Trying to squeeze in final accounts, deal with last-minute clients who’ve just remembered they exist. Then there’s the January rush for self-assessment, which I know many senior team members will do their best to avoid, but in many smaller firms, everyone still gets into the trenches.

Theoretically, we’re supposed to be winding down as hours of daylight dwindle to their lowest ebb and then slowly winding back up in January. But accountants are practically running on caffeine and TaxCalc.

Feb hits, and it's back into accounting conference season. With the opportunity to catch up with many of your suppliers in one place, kicking off conversations on new features, functions, bells & whistles, and to hear what the rest of the industry is up to in terms of how they run their business.

We never stop learning! The opportunity of getting your suppliers, peer catch-ups, and your CPD done for the year, for a few days at conferences, definitely has its appeal!

April to June: The Breather

By April, you’ve made it through— barely. And suddenly, it’s quiet (unless you’re an Auditor, of course!)

This April to early June lull is a strange but welcome season. The emails slow down a bit. There’s time to regroup. Perhaps even tidy up those internal projects we shelved in December. For those of us used to planes and platforms, it’s also a chance to catch our breath at home. You remember what your dog looks like. Maybe even your kids.

June to July: The “Just Before Summer” Rush

There’s something about June to mid-July right now, in fact, where everyone suddenly realises the summer holidays are coming, and with them a stretch of annual leave, OOO emails, and impossible scheduling. So begins the “can we just get this done before summer?” scramble.

It’s reminiscent of exam season, that frantic rush to complete before the doors swing open and structure dissolves into sunscreen and ice cream.

So far this month, we have 6 new UK clients all doing this! With 3 more about to come on. Thankfully, as the biorhythm in the Philippines is a bit different, we can get our heads down recruiting for our UK clients whilst they are off enjoying their summer break!

August: The “Quiet” Month That Never Is

While half the office is on the beach or enjoying the all-inclusive food and drink in Mallorca a little too much, the other half is trying to make progress while client inboxes become black holes. But as soon as September hits, the dial turns up again.

September: The Real New Year

Late August to September always seems to bring a renewed sense of focus. Diaries fill up. Projects resurface. Events and accounting conferences return in force, a final flurry before Q4 begins. It’s almost as if the back-to-school energy of our younger years never quite left us. New stationery might have been replaced with new tech, but the psychology is the same: September is for starting strong.

Do Our School Rhythms Still Shape Us?

Which brings me to a question that’s been rattling around my head: Are we still, subconsciously, running on the rhythms we learnt in school?

Fifteen to twenty years of education ingrains certain patterns: stress in the spring, a push before summer, a new chapter in September. It wouldn’t be surprising if those cycles stayed with us. What if, instead of resisting them, we leaned into them?

I recently revisited Peak Performance (worth a read, by the way), which champions the principle of Stress + Rest = Growth. It’s a reminder that constant output isn’t the holy grail. It’s a shortcut to burnout. Instead, peak performers (whether in sport, business, or, yes, even accounting) aim to time their intensity. They prepare for their peaks, and just as importantly, they recover between them.

Rhythm Over Relentless

So, should we be planning our year around strategic surges and structured recovery?

Embracing the quiet months, not as lost productivity, but as vital recalibration? Could this be the key to long-term sustainability in a profession that thrives on deadlines but also has burnout rates at endemic levels?

Having a global team with different biorhythms is certainly a way to ensure you have people hitting their peaks at different times throughout the year.

As summer break beckons (for some sooner than others), maybe now’s the time to reflect. Take a moment. Look at your calendar. Where are your natural highs? Where can you truly rest? How can you build a team that has people at their peak throughout the year?

Now is the time to get in touch, and we can start building your team over the summer and have you up and running heading into the second half of the year.

Because in the end, accounting isn’t just about balance sheets.

It’s about finding balance, full stop.

Enjoy the summer peaks, troughs, and all.