2.1.1. Work Overload

Work overload is observed the factor that most influences the deterioration of occupational health [38]. This is produced by taking on a large number of engagements, the tight time allowance to carry out the work or by the imposition of overly tight deadlines. If the prestige of the accountant increases, the demand for their services increases too, resulting in the paradox that excess demand on actual capacity may harm the work quality [40].

Another troubling circumstance is that increasing competition forces price adjustment and reduces the budgets of the implementation of the engagements. This can lead to two dysfunctional practices: Reduce the scope of procedures, again compromising the quality of the work; or underreporting time [41–43]. Time pressure inversely affects the quality of work. Performing audit judgements that entail a high level of subjectivity means that the professional accountant may be tempted to relieve pressure by skewing his own judgement. In this way, professional accountants who work with more time pressure assessed a lower risk of significant error in the audited financial statements, which leads them to decrease the intensity of the procedures and the workload [16,44]. In addition, reporting less than the actual number of hours worked (time underreporting) produces a double negative effect. On the one hand, planning future engagements considers the budget timetable of the previous year, thus conditioning the planning of future work. On the other hand, the evaluation of a professional's performance is distorted and is expected within an unrealistic time frame. Underreporting time is considered a more ethical strategy than devoting fewer hours than necessary when the budget is too tight [45].

Work overload also occurs when deadlines are so tight that they cause negative consequences for the quality of the work [46,47]. For example, professional accountants tended to consider less important errors detected on tight deadlines, especially when these deadlines have been established by the own professional accountants [48]. The obligation to comply with the rule of law creates peaks and concentration of work, which result in work overload and higher role conflict, which leads to emotional exhaustion among professional accountants, as References [25,26] have shown.
