Imminent extinction

On any given day, the most read piece of news in TheStar will usually sound something like “Girl abducted and raped”… “Woman raped while jogging”… “Teen held over the rape of under-age girl”… “Mat Rempit wild sex party”. Agree?

But no… not for today. The modern slaves from the accounting sector took centre stage today. And I must say, it’s a pretty good piece of news. It is something which is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in the last few years and from what I heard, those big bosses from the Big 4 accounting firms actually held a closed door meeting together (mind you, they are rivals) to discuss integrated measures to protect their territory.

For years, such accounting firms in Malaysia, by taking leverage on their “reputation”, have lured countless souls into giving up their most valuable part of their lives to pursue a dream that often ends up in nightmares. These souls are often given a take-it-or-leave-it offer and strange enough, most of them (including me), will willingly sign on the most deceiving document of all. True, some of us managed to live our dreams, but not without much sacrifices, some of which may be too great a price to pay.

Having being brain-washed into believing that being in such glamorous accounting firms are the try and tested way to success, all these souls, who are now officially slaves are often led to believe that they must work their ass off for a puny salary purely because they cannot gain the supposedly valuable experience somewhere else.

Fortunately for the slaves… and unfortunately for the local accounting firms, the fact that the world is getting flatter and people are getting more and more mobile means modern slaves in the accounting world can now ply their slave-hood somewhere else… in countries that will pay more and in some countries… less work too!
On the average, a senior consultant, or whatever glamour name which these firms give will someone who has been a slave for 3 – 4 years will earn between RM3,000 to RM4,500 per month in Malaysia, if you perform. Mind you, this is the salary range of the so called BIG 4 accounting firms. Maybe it’s quite a good pay to you but if you have to work an average of 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, it can kill.

The same senior consultant can leave and work in China for the exact same pay… the only difference… the currency is US$, why not? Even if the hours are the same, why not? And if one moves to the UK or Australia (which is the current trend), working hours are reduced significantly.

It’s interesting to note this part…
Reading that, I can't help but think that accountants in Malaysia are the lowest paid slaves in the region, taking into consideration the amount of work put in. But you know what’s worse? All these big firms will keep telling us that we are highly paid.

Well… continue with such attitude, the extinction will just come faster that you can possibly imagine.