Occupational safety for tax and audit practices
Tax practices and audit firms work to a calendar set by others: the tax authorities' filing deadlines, clients' balance sheet dates and payroll dates. For occupational safety this has two consequences: the workload is spread unevenly across the year, and some staff spend weeks at a time on clients' premises.
- Tax & audit firms
Seasonal business in tax practices and audit firms
Work arrives in waves. Year-end accounts and filing deadlines bring busy phases at the same time every year. Because these phases are predictable, they can be planned in advance, which is why they belong in the risk assessment.
The outer limits are set by the Working Hours Act, including where staff work on trust-based hours. Eight hours per working day are permitted, and up to ten only if an average of eight hours is not exceeded within six calendar months or 24 weeks (section 3 ArbZG). After work ends, an uninterrupted rest period of at least eleven hours must follow (section 5 ArbZG). A practice that plans leave, cover and time off in quieter months before the busy phase can stay within these limits without reshuffling in the middle of filing season.
Audit teams often spend weeks at a client's premises. Two employers then work at the same place and have to coordinate their protective measures (section 8 ArbSchG). Before the audit starts, it should be clear which room is available, who the first aiders on site are and where the escape route runs. For longer assignments, an external monitor, keyboard and mouse belong in the luggage, to turn the meeting table into a usable workstation.
Tax and audit practices: classification, thresholds, working hours
| Item | Tax and audit practice |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance institution | VBG, risk tariff position for advisory and information services |
| Economic sector | WZ 69.2 accounting, bookkeeping and auditing activities; tax consultancy |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | III: above 20 employees (Annex 2) 0.5 hours of basic support per employee and year, shared between specialist and occupational physician, at least 20 per cent each. Company-specific support comes on top |
| From the first employee | Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician |
| Up to 20 employees | Annex 1 of DGUV Regulation 2 with no fixed support hours |
| Above 20 employees | Occupational safety committee meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG) |
| Up to 50 employees | Unternehmermodell permitted as an alternative. More than 50: standard support |
| From 50 employees in an office | Safety officers (section 22 SGB VII, since 29 May 2026) |
| Working hours in busy phases | At most ten hours per working day with averaging to eight, at least eleven hours of rest (sections 3 and 5 ArbZG) |
Tax clerks, employed qualified advisers, audit assistants and trainees count. Partners who are not employed do not. Part-time staff count proportionally towards the threshold of 20: up to 20 hours a week as 0.5, up to 30 hours as 0.75.
Four checkpoints for the risk assessment of a tax practice
- Seasonal peaks as a permanent topic. Recurring busy phases with overtime and postponed breaks are the central point of the assessment of mental stress under section 5 paragraph 3 ArbSchG. Because they are in the calendar, they can be planned for in advance.
- Audits at the client. Audit work takes place over weeks in someone else's premises, often at improvised workstations. What you cannot shape yourself must be assessed and agreed with the client.
- Document archives and transport. Folders, boxes of receipts and data media get moved, often between practice and client. Manual handling and transport in your own vehicle belong in the assessment.
- Long screen time with figures. Hours of spreadsheet work at high visual detail. The focus is monitor size, viewing distance, lighting and the offered eyesight screening.
If employees sometimes work from home, the home workstation belongs in the assessment as well, as telework or as mobile work depending on the agreement. Risk assessment for remote work and telework covers what needs assessing there.
Walkthroughs of tax and audit practices: what usually needs fixing
In the practice the findings are boxes of documents on traffic routes, folders above head height and overloaded power strips. What is regularly missing from the walkthrough is the on-site audit: there is no assessment for the workstations at the client, even though teams sit there for weeks, and no agreement on how an accident there is reported.
Safety training in the tax practice and the audit team
Training needs a section on working at the client: signing in, their house rules, setting up the improvised workstation, the reporting route after an accident. Add the rules for the busy phases, meaning breaks, availability and cover, and how to lift and transport boxes of documents.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires training on recruitment and when duties change, in each case before the work begins (section 12 ArbSchG). New audit assistants therefore need the section on working at a client's premises before their first external assignment.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Support models and hours for practices with a fluctuating workload.
- Occupational safety for law firms and lawyers: The neighbouring advisory profession, with client files and deadline pressure.
- 7 risk assessment mistakes in offices: Two of them hit practices in particular: mental stress left unassessed and the forgotten home office.
- Occupational safety committee (ASA): from when?: Who sits on the committee once the practice has more than 20 employees.
- ASA planner for the meeting cycle: Schedule meetings so they do not fall in filing season.
Legal basis
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- Social Code Book VII (SGB VII), statutory accident insurance
Frequently asked questions
Which employers' liability insurance association covers tax advisers and auditors?
The VBG. Tax consultancies and audit firms sit in its risk tariff under the position for advisory and information services. For the individual practice, its membership notice is what counts.
May tax clerks work twelve hours a day during filing season?
No. The Working Hours Act permits at most ten hours per working day, and only with averaging to eight hours within six calendar months or 24 weeks. Work of more than nine hours requires breaks of at least 45 minutes (section 4 ArbZG). The Act allows exceptions only within narrow limits.
Who reports an accident suffered by an auditor at a client's premises?
Your practice. The auditor is insured through the employer, even when working on someone else's premises. If the accident leads to more than three days of incapacity for work, it has to be reported to your own insurance association (section 193 SGB VII). Settle beforehand how the team gets first aid on site and who at the practice is informed.
Other business types
Worry-free occupational safety in 4 steps
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Free initial consultation
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Contract signed
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