Professional burnout levels of freelance financial consultants post-Covid-19: A case study of Ankara

Burnout is one of the important problems of today's information age, and it is a physiological and psychological reaction that threatens working life, arising from the negative difference between the expectations of people and the situation they achieve. Intense workload, pressure, uncertainty, high-paced and continuous work, excessive demands and expectations disrupt the psychological balance and cause burnout and stress. Both situations are frequently seen in the professions in the service sector where human relations are intense, physical and mental problems may arise when burnout and stress are in question, and these can cause negative effects in business and private life. Professional accountants, who work in face-to-face business relationships and have to make uninterrupted and error-free transactions, are faced with the stress factor arising from the nature of their profession and are relatively close to burnout. With the Covid 19 pandemic, professional accountants have entered a more complex, difficult and uncertain working process, which has put them at greater risk of burnout and stress. This research, which was prepared in order to determine the burnout and stress situations of accountants in the Covid 19 pandemic period, was prepared with the participation of 305 professional members operating in the province of Ankara by applying a questionnaire. As a result of the research, the reasons that increase the risk of burnout and stress of accountants under the Covid 19 pandemic; It has been determined that there are fear of catching Covid 19, decrease in income, unclear job descriptions, increase in workload, excessive responsibility, long and tiring work, technological problems, work and unethical demands of taxpayers, deterioration of work-life balance and legislative changes. In addition, it has been determined that work stress has a positive effect on burnout in the dimensions of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.