有些人說會計師是一門專業，專業就是長時間保持高效率工作。那些人不顧自己的身體不要緊，但有些人絕對認為健康是無價的。前畢馬威會計師事務所美國業務主席兼行政總裁奧基利（Eugene O’Kelly）正處於事業頂峰，五十三歲的他統領「四大」屬下規模最大的業務，日理萬機，呼風喚雨。在全無先兆下，醫生告知他患上末期腦癌，只餘約一百天壽命。奧基利和他的太太於是合作撰寫《Chasing Daylight：How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life》這本書，紀錄他步向死亡的經歷。奧基利在同年9 月去世，距離他知道患癌正好約一百日。另外，有一批在會計師數工作的人是沒有選擇的權力的，那就是剛入行而要拿工作經驗的人。HKICPA規定考完 QP(HKICPA的會計試)還要有三年的工作經驗才可以入會做會計師。對於這群沒有任何bargaining power的一班新人，他們受到僱主的剝削是最為嚴重的。所以筆者認為如期等那些大公司自律或給予他們機會做些門面功夫，不如立法制定最高工。至於一星期工作幾多時間，一個月又工作幾多就不在這文章討論範圍。
會計師是四師(醫師﹑律師﹑工程師﹑會計師)之一。究竟會計師是否如HKICPA所言是十分專業呢? 在我個人看，行內人不是十分看重什麼專業操守的。一間公司的財政報告是否如核數師報告所言「reasonable assurance as to whether the accounts are free from material misstatement.」呢? 是否能夠真實反映一間公司的財政狀況呢? 行內有一種術語叫做「放飛機」，就是說核數師沒有check原本應該要check的事，但在working paper說自己做了同check了。在人手不足同時間緊迫的底下，「放飛機」是十分普遍的。每一個人都想在OT了六七個鐘之後早些返屋企休息，樣樣都 check不足當然返屋企無期，二來OT六七個鐘又沒有錢收，每一個人都希望快些完成工作。「放飛機」有大放有小放，有些就算看到有問題都會說沒有問題，用另外一個sample去replace。這就是audit! 這就是讀了三四年大學，考完會計師試同埋有三四年工作經驗的工作，試問讀了那麼多書為了什麼? 「放飛機」最終影響的都是不能真實反映一間公司的財政狀況。
Do you want to work in Big 4? Do u think it is that easy to work there for 4-5 yrs? Do you want to know the reality inside? I had worked there for a long time. The life was totally miserable! You will not only lose all your friends and but also may have chance to lose your beloved one. You have to work days to nights from Monday to Saturday or even Sunday without much incentive. Managers are "A-shoulder",whereas partners don't care about you at all. They only will push you hard so as to finish the job on time but with limited staffs.
Are you planning to stay in China for 2-3 months? if you are such unlucky and have been assigned to work for an IPO, then you have to stay there for a long time. Don't think you can date beautiful girls there. Working in China is like living in hell. You have to wake up early every day at about 8:30am, then work until 10-12 or later, then go back to hotel and sleep and work again. Normally you have to work from Monday to Saturday of which the normal working days are from Monday to Friday. Don't think you are entitled to claim OT. Unless the manager-in-charge allows you to claim, you may be blamed by other people for asking such stupid but lawful compensation. They may think you are not working efficiently enough so have to claim OT! What a lie! Also if you are working as a junior, you may have to live in the sameroom with another senior. Congratulation! You may become his "Ar 4", and have to serve him even after finish your work late in the client's office. No doubt if you are going with a team that is familar and friendly to u, then life may not be that harsh as gossiping will kill time. But if you are so unlucky and have to work with people you really don't like, then working in PRC is like locking in a jail! You can learn and see a lot of stuffs in PRC, e.g. large factories, their operation processes, varieties kinds of industry. Other than broadening your horizon, those things won't help your career much unless you plan to work in PRC again for the rest of your life. PRC's accounting and auditing standards are inferior and totally different with those in Hong Kong. Most of the companies don't have internal control, so you have to do a lot of works to ensure that their financial statements are true and fair. It implies that you have to take lots of samples as the inherent risk is so high. Such kind of job is called "wok" job! No one wants to do it, and everyone tries their best to escape from it! Why? It is because there is something called "continuity". It means that once u are assigned to do a job in the first year, u may be asked to do the same job in next year. The reasoning behind is that u are familar with the nature and the process of that company, which imfers that u are able to work faster and more efficient! So if you are so "lucky" and get a "wok" job when u are still a junior, then God bless you! You will do the same job again next year! Worst still, by that time you are a grade higher than you were and the burden upon you will be much heavier!
Most people after finished working in Big 4 for 4-5 yrs, they will find it difficult to work as an accountant in commercial field. Employers often claim that they like people having Big 4's experience. But on the other hand, they also claim that people from Big 4 don't have enough commercial experience as what you know is only restricted to the extend about auditing! What a dilemma! As you are coming from the audit department of Big 4, you may not familar with taxation as it is performed by taxation department. You may have to learn something about taxation once more as your employers or even will often ask you about tax issues. In my view, Knowledge in taxation is very useful and important because people usually will want to know how much tax they can save, rather than those accounting treatments. Employers do not treat accounting as a productive department but a supporting department. It is your duty to well prepare the financial statements. It infers that it is beneficial to recognise profit earlier but defer expenses later by applying the accouting standards. However the accounting standards change every year, as HKICPA's technical department thinks it is more suitable to adopt different treatments to deal with changing business environment. I really think that it is not necessity to change treatments every year. I really feel doubt how many accountants will know the new treatment, especially those local firms which are not necessarily to deal with big clients. It gives me a feeling that HKICPA changes because they are being paid to be changed, but not because there is a need to change!
Overtime is a norm in auditing. You may argue that before you join the firm you have already known that you have to work so harsh as an auditor in Hong Kong. But what overtime I'm talking at this moment is an overtime for 7-8 hours per day! In peak season (usually between February and July, but it depends on how lucky you are), you may have to work from 8:30am or 9am to 2-3am. It is not a joke, it is real! Sometimes I really doubt whether it is such necessarily to work so late. We are human being not machine. Body simply will not function at all after working for such a long time. I'd even vomitted in washroom for so many times! Junior staffs may be scared of leaving the office early, even though they may not have much things to do. But some seniors want their teammates to stay late, as to show off or to tell their bosses that they are hard working in order to get a promotion for himself or herself. There are so many such selfish person in Big 4, especially those want to be promoted to manager. Promoting to senior is not that hard, as long as throughout the life in the firm you are not being disliked or blamed by other people. When you are working as a junior, you should be extremely careful! Once you have done something carelessly, recklessly or negligently, your "bad" reputation will be wide spread soon and your life there will be miserable! Your story will be spread to other seniors within a short period of time. People will not book you, and you may be idle most of the time. You may do some filings in the office or may be assigned to some jobs that no one wants to do!
Don't think auditing is something very professional! The opinion given in Auditor's Report is only a joke! The standard is to give "reasonable assurance as to whether the accounts are free from material misstatement." To be honest, such kind of statement has already protected the CPA firm from being sued of negligence. Do you think that the financial statements really truely reflect the company's financial position? I really feel doubt about it, especially you know how the auditors do their jobs. There is a jargon in auditing called "Flying airplane". It means that the auditor does not check every stuffs he is required to do. It is so common in auditing because time is limited and staffs are not enough. If people want to go home earlier, then they have to skip things that may not be important. But the implication of such skip may not underestaimated. Even though some problems have been found during the process of the finding, people simply will ignore it and replace it with a proper sample, so that they can leave the office and go home earlier.
Salary in Big 4 is more than those in local firms, no doubt workload will be heavier. However by comparing with hours that a person works, the salary is not so high at all! Most people quit in Big 4 after working 3-4 yrs. Usually tbey will find jobs as an internal auditors or they may sacrifice a salary cut when working in commercial field. In Hong Kong, there are about 60,000 qualified accountants but only 3,000 are holding practice certificates. Why? It is very hard to open a CPA firm because it is hard to survive under the fierce competition from firms like "LA Accounting". Theoretically such kind of firm is not a regular CPA firm, but they are doing accounting works. In law only a CPA who has a practise certificate can sign and express opinion on financial statements. However it is not required by law that the auditing work should be done by CPAs and can be performed by others so long as the Auditor's Report will be signed by a CPA. Thus, such "accounting" firms make use of this loophole doing audit work, helping clients to fill in tax return but at the end just ask a CPA with practise certicate to sign the report for them. They make huge bucks of money! Still now HKICPA hasn't done much to stop such kind of activities.
At last, don't be cheated or misled by the promotional campaign from Big 4. The accounting industry is not as prosperous as they talk. There are too many accountants, and mostly they are under paid! Their workloads are too much. Also they have to fact a lot of risks and pressure from management. People may be forced to make fake accounting records or else they will be fired. Remember these are criminal, and would be jailed! So please think twice before joining the accounting industry!
最愛始終係《開始懂了》, 實在太正!!
