How Sterling & Associates Prevented Burnout During Their Busiest Tax Season
A 28-person Boston CPA firm had no visibility into overtime during tax season. Three staff members burned out in a single year. Timedox changed how they manage busy season.
The Company
Sterling & Associates CPAs is a full-service accounting firm in Boston serving 200+ clients across tax preparation, audit, and advisory. Their 28-person team includes CPAs, associates, and administrative staff.
Managing Partner Michael Torres runs the firm. His biggest operational challenge isn't tax code complexity. It's managing workload during the seasonal spikes that define the profession: tax season (January through April) and audit season (Q3).
"We lost three people to burnout last year. I didn't even know they were working 70-hour weeks until they quit."
During tax season, Sterling's staff regularly works 55-70 hour weeks. But Michael had no real-time visibility into who was overloaded. Time entry was weekly, and staff underreported hours to avoid looking slow.
Three experienced associates burned out and resigned in a single year. By the time Michael noticed the warning signs in their timesheets, it was too late.
"I couldn't tell you on any given day during tax season who was working 50 hours and who was working 70. By the time I saw the data, the damage was done."
3
Staff lost to burnout in one year
55+ hrs
Average work week during tax season
0%
Real-time overtime visibility
Why they chose Timedox
Michael needed automatic, real-time overtime tracking. With Automatic In-Out, the Timedox Desktop App captures every hour without staff having to do anything extra during their most stressful months.
"During busy season, my staff are heads-down for 12 hours at a time. The last thing I'm going to ask them to do is log time. Timedox captures it automatically. Now I see overtime building in real time."
Engagement-level tracking was equally important. Michael needed to know which client engagements were eating the most hours so he could redistribute work before anyone hit a breaking point.
Overtime Monitoring
Real-time alerts when staff approach overtime thresholds. Prevent burnout proactively.
Engagement Tracking
Hours mapped to clients and engagement types. See where time goes by deadline.
Automatic In-Out
No manual entry during busy season. Every hour captured as it happens.
What Sterling & Associates CPAs sees every day
The same Timedox dashboard every customer uses. No custom build, just clear data.
Dashboard
Team Overview
Active now
18
+3 from yesterday
Total hours
142h
On break
2
Sites
4
Sarah Miller
Headquarters
James Chen
Downtown Office
Maria Lopez
Remote
David Kim
Field Site A
From signup to full adoption
Pre-season setup
Michael deployed Timedox three months before tax season. Staff got comfortable with the system during the lower-intensity Q4 months. Zero disruption.
Tax season begins with full visibility
For the first time, Michael could see real-time hours for every staff member from day one of tax season. No waiting until Friday for weekly timesheets.
First overtime alert triggered
Timedox flagged two associates approaching 60-hour weeks by Wednesday. Michael redistributed their client load before the week ended. Both had been headed toward 70+ hours.
Engagement profitability visible
Real-time data revealed three client engagements consuming 40% more hours than budgeted. Michael renegotiated fees and adjusted staffing before the season ended.
Healthiest tax season on record
No staff resignations. No burnout-related incidents. Average overtime was 15% lower than the previous year despite handling 12% more clients.
Inside Sterling & Associates CPAs
The numbers after one year
0
staff lost to burnout (was 3 the prior year)
15%
reduction in average overtime hours
12%
more clients handled with the same team
100%
real-time overtime visibility during tax season
"During tax season, we used to lose track of who was working 70-hour weeks. Now I see it in real time and can redistribute before burnout hits. We had our healthiest busy season ever. Zero resignations."
Michael Torres
Managing Partner, Sterling & Associates CPAs
Heading into busy season?
Timedox gives accounting firms real-time overtime monitoring and engagement tracking. Start a free trial before the rush.