February often feels like the most demanding point in the year for finance and accounting teams, even though the calendar says the year has just begun. That pressure is not accidental. It is the result of several critical priorities converging at once, each carrying real consequences if something slips.
At this stage of the year, close work is still very much alive. Late invoices, accrual adjustments, reconciliations, and final reviews tend to surface after the calendar flips, not before. What appeared settled in December often requires refinement once all activity is fully visible. Expectations shift as well. Leadership is no longer looking for preliminary numbers. They want results they can trust and act on.
At the same time, audit and external reporting demands intensify. Requests for support schedules, documentation, and explanations pull experienced team members away from day-to-day close work. The burden typically falls on a small group of individuals who hold the deepest institutional knowledge, concentrating pressure even further. Even well-prepared teams feel this strain because audit work is additive. It stacks on top of existing responsibilities rather than replacing them.
Reporting deadlines also begin to shape the pace of work more aggressively. For many organizations, this period represents the final runway before major filings, reviews, or board reporting. Accuracy, consistency, and documentation matter more, while timelines become less flexible. Small delays or errors can carry larger downstream costs.
At the same time, planning does not pause. As numbers firm up, leadership naturally shifts focus forward. Questions around run-rate, margins, cash flow, and outlook become more pointed. Finance teams are asked to close the past and explain the future at the same time, often without additional capacity to support that shift.
What is often missed in conversations about early-year pressure is that it is not a performance issue. It is a capacity and structure issue. Finance work tends to rely heavily on a few key individuals, and this point in the year exposes just how much knowledge and responsibility sits with a limited group. When everything converges at once, even strong teams feel stretched.
The organizations that navigate this period most effectively tend to do a few things:
- They protect the close process by clearly defining what must be finalized now versus what can follow.
- They reduce friction in audit and reporting by tightening ownership and documentation early.
- They separate close and compliance work from planning conversations so everything does not feel urgent at once.
- And when needed, they add targeted support rather than spreading already-thin teams even further. Bringing in senior finance and accounting consultants can add immediate horsepower for a defined period of time, without the onboarding delays or ongoing overhead of a permanent hire. Proven professionals who can hit the ground running also help reduce the added human resources and administrative burden that often comes with scaling internal teams.
This period is demanding because it matters. It is when accuracy, discipline, and clarity set the tone for the rest of the year. The pressure is real, but it is also predictable. With the right structure and support, it becomes manageable instead of overwhelming.
Brilliant helps finance and accounting teams navigate high-pressure periods like this with focused, practical support. During busy season, we can identify senior accountants, FP&A leaders, and interim C-suite solutions to add capacity where it matters most. If this time of year feels especially compressed, we are always happy to be a resource.