Balancing Job Demands and Resources: Enhancing Resilience in the Accounting and Auditing Profession

This conceptual paper examines the growing prevalence of resilience among accountants and auditors through the perspective of the Job Demands–Resources model. These professions are often linked with heavy workloads, long hours, role ambiguity and limited social support, which can increase psychological stress and lead to serious mental health issues. These factors affect not only individual well-being and job satisfaction but can also undermine the organisation’s performance and damage its reputation. Based on existing literature, this paper develops a framework that charts the relationship between excessive job demands and negative impact at individual and organisational levels, with burnout and mental health strain as the primary determinants of harm. Ultimately, it emphasises the organization's role in implementing flexible work arrangements, providing training and role clarity, establishing effective reward and recognition systems, and fostering supportive leadership to mitigate the risk. Institutions also have a role in addressing the issue through their regulatory guidelines, corporate culture reform and curriculum reform. This framework highlights the important role of both institutional and organisational responses in enhancing professional resilience, improving audit quality, and safeguarding the sustainability of the profession. This paper also discusses the practical implications and future research suggestions, focusing on embedding mental health awareness into accounting education and professional standards.