My husband is a third-year accountant, and it seems he has too much work. He works at home every day until 3 to 4 a.m., then goes to the office at 9 a.m. and repeats. Today, he has been repeating thoughts for three hours at home: 'I really can't do this, what should I do? I should quit. How will I make a living?' Why does this industry have so much work, and why is it so urgent?Recently, a post appeared on the anonymous community Blind for workers.
It has been confirmed that the labor union, established at Samil Accounting Corporation, the largest accounting firm in South Korea, was disbanded three years later. Accountants still report suffering from high-intensity labor during peak periods in January to March and July to August when auditing work is concentrated. There are analyses suggesting that the industry's peculiarities contribute to the difficulties in establishing labor unions.
According to the accounting industry on the 22nd, the Samil Accounting Corporation branch of the National Office and Financial Services Labor Union held its inaugural meeting on Nov. 15, 2018, and elected Hwang Byeong-chan, currently the president of the Youth Certified Public Accountants Association, as the first branch chair. The union was named 'S-Union,' and its initial size was over 150 members. However, the union officially disbanded in September 2021, three years later.
The reason was simple. No one stepped forward to become the union chairperson. A union must have at least two members to be maintained. However, at that time, one member, not Chairperson Hwang, left the company, failing to meet the requirements for forming a union. Additionally, Chairperson Hwang also resigned from Samil Accounting Corporation in December 2021, and there were no attempts to re-establish it afterward.
Chairperson Hwang noted, 'There was no significant obstruction from the company during union activities,' but added, 'However, there were conditions for creating an incumbent union member, but instead of addressing other requests, they did not create an incumbent union member. Working alongside union activities posed restrictions.'
In fact, when the Samil Accounting Corporation union was launched, there had been expectations that the establishment of the union would spread throughout the industry, due to the poor working conditions of accountants. Particularly in January to March, as the submission of audit reports approaches, the audit work on financial statements concentrates, subjecting accountants to higher work intensity than usual.
The National Office and Financial Services Labor Union and the Youth Certified Public Accountants Association conducted a survey of 600 accountants ahead of the introduction of the 52-hour workweek in 2018. The survey found that 55.7% exceeded an average weekly working hour of 80 hours during this period, while only 2.2% reported hours between 40 and 52. Moreover, labor intensity was higher among relatively junior positions with 3 to 5 years of experience after joining an accounting firm.
However, no unions were established across the industry, including major firms like Samjeong, Anjin, and HanYoung. Chairperson Hwang stated, 'Of course, there were inquiries about forming a union, but when I mentioned that at least one person must be active with their real name, no one wanted to create a union.'
The industry also cited the difficulty of finding someone willing to work under their real name as a reason for the absence of unions. Furthermore, high turnover and the challenges of receiving new members make it difficult to even maintain a union. An official from a large accounting firm remarked, 'While improving working conditions and welfare is important, there seems to be a concern that having engaged in union activities may later pose problems in their careers.'
An industry official explained, 'Afterward, significant improvements were made in economic compensation and working conditions, leading most members to not really support the necessity of a union, which is why it hasn't been reestablished.'