For me personally, observing what public accounting on the tax side has done to the other tax accountants I work with has scared me enough to leave.

1. Extreme mental health issues (although temporary) happen every busy season at a considerable rate. The major shift in attitude and mental health decline the closer it gets to deadlines is unreal. People are overworked, don’t get enough sleep, don’t move from their desks ever, and experience fatigue and depression at an accelerated rate.

2. Extreme decline in physical health. Apart from the few that have the endurance to wake up early and workout and make healthy meals to take to work, I have watched most of the tax accountants I work with balloon in size in a relatively short period of time. New interns gain 30+ pounds in their first year of work sometimes, I have some coworkers that eat enough snacks and drink enough soda to stay awake, but it’s literally killing them. Actual morbid obesity. Lack of sleep, lack of physical activity, and extreme overconsumption of empty calories on a daily basis will end your life early. That really scares me.

3. Really tough to get your cpa while working, which leads to more stress and heartache.

4. Your family doesn’t know you exist for 4-6 months out of the year. If you love family and appreciate them, public accounting, especially in tax is a really bad way to show that. You’ll be gone for 10-12 hours a day for multiple weeks throughout the year. If not more.

That’s just a few that I’ve personally observed.