More than a third of accountants believe their boss doesn't care about their professional development, warns a charity set up to support Institute members while a fifth are worried that they are not able to cope with the stresses experienced in their role.

The Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA) surveyed over a 1,000 within the profession and found that though 61% were content with their current work situation, 36% do not feel that their employer is interested in developing them as accountants.

A further 61% were concerned about their future finances, with 74% believing that they will have to work longer to experience a retirement without financial pressures.

Among those who responded to the survey were unemployed accountants who admitted to suffering from difficulties with sleep (43%), anxiety (35%) and loss of self-confidence (34%) since losing their job.

Kath Haines, chief executive at CABA, said of the survey: 'The wealth of information it contains will help us to determine the current needs of chartered accountants and will also be useful in identifying areas where we could develop additional methods of support.

'We very much hope that the results of the Wellbeing Survey will be used as the starting point for debate with interested parties about where CABA should be concentrating its resources in the next strategic cycle. Certainly, we will be discussing the contents in detail with our Board of Trustees and ICAEW but any chartered accountant can contact us if they want to make their views known.'

For more details visit the CABA website.