A senior associate hands in her notice on the fourth of April. The tax audit reports went out on time. The partners were relieved. Her letter spoke of family reasons. Three weeks later she joined a larger practice two floors up in the same building. Nobody saw it coming. Yet her timesheet showed seventy-hour weeks since January. Her leave balance had not moved. Her last appraisal was eighteen months old.
Exits in a CA practice follow a pattern. The pattern sits in ordinary records long before a letter arrives. This article lists the usual causes. It shows what to read in the firm's own files. Then it describes how to hear the true cause when someone goes. It fits partner-led practices, audit firms, tax consultants, bookkeeping shops and accounting outsourcers. The mix differs. The causes are close.
What people say and what sits behind it
- Load with no recovery. Advance tax computations, bank confirmations, stock counts, tax audit reports and statutory audit sign-offs fall in the same weeks. People accept a hard March. They resent a hard March followed by a normal April.
- No step they can see. An articled assistant qualifies and is asked to stay as a semi-senior with the same desk, the same reviewer and a small raise. A bigger firm offers a title and a client list.
- Review that never ends. When every working paper goes up to the engagement partner, seniors stop growing. They wait for tick-marks and comments instead of signing off routine files.
- Pay set by the last negotiation. Two assistants of equal standing sit on different salaries because one resigned once and was matched.
- Site work with no rest. Audit teams spend weeks at a factory or depot, counting stock, vouching bills and scrutinising ledgers. They return on Saturday night and are expected at the office on Monday.
- Feedback only at exit. The first frank talk about performance happens after the decision.
None of this is secret. Each cause lives with a different person. The partner knows the engagement letters and the fee. The manager knows the review habits. The accounts clerk knows the pay gaps. Nobody holds the whole picture. Fixing that comes first.
What to read in your own records
Before talking to anyone, pull four documents. Take the timesheet summary for twelve months. Take the leave register. Take the appraisal dates. Take the leaver list for two years with joining dates. Spread all four on one table.
Then ask three questions. Who logged the longest hours in March and September, and took no leave after? Who has gone past eighteen months without a review? Which team lost the most people within two years of qualifying? Most firms find that exits cluster in two or three teams. They cluster around one reviewer and one season. The fault is in supervision and calendar, not in salary bands. That costs less to repair.
NAME, ROLE, TEAM: ____.
DATE JOINED / DATE OF NOTICE / LAST DAY: ____.
STAGE: article assistant / semi-senior / senior / manager.
REVIEWER AND ENGAGEMENT PARTNER: ____.
HOURS LOGGED IN THE LAST TWO PEAK MONTHS: ____.
LEAVE TAKEN IN THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE NOTICE: ____.
DATE OF LAST APPRAISAL: ____.
REASON IN THE LETTER: ____.
REASON IN THE EXIT TALK (held outside the reporting line): ____.
DESTINATION AND TERMS, IF SHARED: ____.
REHIRE: yes / no / ask in a year.
ONE THING THE FIRM COULD HAVE CHANGED: ____.Holding an exit talk that teaches you something
- 1
Pick the asker
Use a manager from a different team, or an outside adviser. Leavers dilute their words for the partner who signs the relieving letter. Say plainly what happens to the notes.
- 2
Ask about the work
Which engagement files they liked. Which they dreaded, such as the debtors circularisation or the fixed asset register. Which reviewer taught them most. When they first thought of leaving.
- 3
Ask what might have kept them
The answer is often small. A fixed week off after the March close. A named reviewer. A talk about the manager track.
- 4
Write it up in one day
Use the one-page record. Do not paraphrase into comfortable language.
- 5
Read the pages together every six months
Do it after the September and March peaks. Group by team and reviewer. Act on the biggest cluster first.
Fixing what you control
Start with rest after peaks. Put a block of days in the calendar for the week after the tax audit deadline and the half-year audit sign-off. Say so at joining. Next, publish the ladder from article assistant to associate to senior, with the work tied to each rung. The learning ladder for a CA firm can fit this on a page.
Then hold a short review twice a year on fixed dates. A performance review routine that covers technical quality, client handling and reliability gives juniors a reason to see a second year. For the wider picture, the retention work GullyHR does covers exit reading, stay talks and a simple leaver dashboard. The overview of HR for chartered accountants and accounting firms lists the other recurring patterns.
Where to begin this month
- Pull the four documents and lay them side by side.
- Fill the one-page record for the last three leavers, even from memory.
- Mark one week in the calendar after the next peak when seniors can take leave.
- Book a stay talk with each person past eighteen months without a review.
