Conflict Resolution: Identifying and Addressing Stressors at Work
September 08, 2025
By Andrea Beth Levy, CPA, CFE, CGMA, MBA
Conflict at work can produce stress and contain stressors. Distinguishing the differences between these two concepts is important and valuable in navigating your career mindset. Nick Wignall from the friendly mind provides this guidance, “if you’re chronically stressed out at work, you might need to get a lot more assertive about setting boundaries and saying no to other people’s request of you.”
Stress can be defined as a response to real or imagined danger. While a stressor is the thing causing the stress response. Although stress management techniques like calming breaths and walking away help initially in dialing down the intensity of an interaction, stress management does not necessarily assist with addressing the actual stressors. Long-term denial of root cause conflict can lead to chronic stress. Therefore, we should not only manage our stress but pay constant attention to the stressors in our lives.
Let’s unfold a couple of situations with response options.
Situation One: Stakeholders missing financial close due dates
Background: The financial close is a marathon, but your finance team has implemented improvements to simplify the financial reporting process. Clear due dates are communicated to the entire team including department heads. Per the schedule, data for journal entries must be received by department heads by the fourth business day of the month.
Issue: Even though this due date has been communicated numerous times, there seems to be data delays and data arriving after the due date. When this happens, your team works late into the evening. Sometimes your team misses vacation because of this issue.
Here is how the fifth business day unfolds.
Sales Department Head: “Just received that paperwork on the ABC corporation contract. Let’s add the sale to this month’s financial statements. The board will want to see it on the statements.”
Response Option One – Agree.
“Okay, we’ll record the revenue right away in this months’ financials.” This option does not address the stressor because the due date was missed and your team assumes the extra work without recourse.
Response Option Two – Agree this time, but counteroffer for next time.
“It’s great to hear about this new revenue. Our team conducts a variety of inquiries before we can record the revenue. Since this is arriving on day five instead of day four, we can work on recording it in our financials this one time. Next time, we’ll need your team to provide this data by day four”. This option addresses the stressor but not the root cause of the issue.
Response Option Three – Do not agree but collaborate with the stakeholder to identify the root cause of the issue.
“It’s great to hear about this new revenue. Our team conducts a variety of inquiries before we can record the revenue. It looks like this is arriving to our team on day five and that’s one day after the fourth day due date. Since our team must perform additional testing and we’re at capacity at this time, our team will plan on recording this revenue in next month’s financials. I wonder what the root cause is for the delay with the information, any thoughts? I’ll reach out to your administrative assistant to set up a time for us to meet and learn more about the reasons for delayed data. Let’s work together to see if we can receive this data earlier in the month, to ensure a seamless inclusion in our financial statements.” This option addresses the stressor and the root cause of the issue.
Situation Two: Recording a material unexpected expense accrual right before year-end
Background: Financial statements are audited by external auditors on an annual basis. As the controller, you report directly to the CFO. You just started the position six months ago and the auditors arrive in three weeks. Last year, there was an expense accrual of $500K which was not recorded in the annual financial statements. The CFO mentioned the auditors passed on recording the accrual last year. The CFO mentioned this was important for the financial statements because the agency looked better than expected. This year, that same expense accrual calculation equals $560K, exceeding the materiality threshold for the agency.
Issue: You’ve tried to connect with the CFO on this topic, but it’s been hard to find the right time. You are planning to record the $560K expense accrual but you’re not sure how to communicate this to the CFO. This journal entry will increase annual expenses and decrease net income for the year. You know the CFO will be unhappy because of the financial impact.
Response Option One – Record the expense accrual last minute.
You plan to record the material expense accrual one day before the auditors arrive. This option does not address the stressor.
During your check-in meeting with the CFO you mention, “Letting you know, we are recording that expense that we didn’t have to record last year. Yes, this year it’s now $560K and last year it was $500K. I’ll record it today since the auditors come tomorrow.”
Response Option Two – Record the material expense accrual with immediate notice to the CFO (three weeks before the auditor arrives.)
Explain to the CFO the reasons for recording the expense accrual. Make a recommendation about reviewing current processes to keep an eye on this accrual. Perhaps you can record an estimate of this accrual during the year, thereby not having to record this expense all at once right before year-end. Since this expense accrual may be unexpected, how can the finance team support communication with the C-suite? This option addresses the stressor and tries to address the root cause of the issue.
Other Situations: Navigating Coworker Conflict
Sometimes our work challenges include unproductive feedback, and interactions can include unhelpful judgment. Examples may include a coworker’s comment, “Why does it take so long for a bill to be paid? Is anyone working on your team?” In this situation, try avoiding an immediate response in front of your coworkers. Avoid confrontation during the meeting because this almost always heightens emotions and raises the stakes. The most effective way to respond in this situation includes a request to speak about the topic another date and time. Do not engage, personalize or defend your point of view at a time when the stakes are high. Helpful responses in this situation may include, “Let’s review our accounts payable process at our next scheduled meeting.”
In situations when a coworker starts an email war where someone is frustrated by a situation and fires off a message with many recipients copied on the message. Try diffusing this situation by taking the issue off of email. Call or send a chat message to help resolve the situation. As mentioned in a recent Forbes article, “By taking the high road, you’ll be more likely to foster a team atmosphere that supports transparency and constructive feedback.”
Conclusion
There is a difference between experiencing stress and noticing a stressor. Identifying and addressing the root cause of conflict is your best bet to reduce unnecessary stress responses and feeling more balanced.