Recently I met a group of auditors who were involved in preparing the half yearly accounts of our organization. Since they had to meet a dead line they were working almost 18 hours a day I guess. When I came to office at 8.30 in the morning they were there. I worked late for couple of days to finish some of my work. When I left office it was around 2.00AM next day. I thought everyone has gone home. But there were lights on at a meeting room, to see these youngsters were still working. This happened couple of days. It was very surprising to see even girls worked in this team at that time. One day I felt like having a chat with them.
The group consists of 10 junior staff and 1 senior guy. I had a chat with them while having dinner. I asked them how much over time are they receiving and what their salary scales are. I knew the job they were doing is extremely difficult. It needs very high level of understanding of accounting as well as the knowledge on that specific business. More than that they had the access to very confidential information of the company. I got to know that most of them were university graduates. Some of them were CIMA qualified. All of them were following the exams of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. With so much qualifications and talents, I guessed they must be earning thumping amount of salaries.
Guess. Just guess… The senior guy in that team gets only Rs.4,500 per month and there's nothing call "over time fees". He was double qualified and facing his final 1 examination of his 3rd professional qualification. First I thought he was kidding. I asked him whether I asked a wrong question. He smiled and said “no I'm not joking". I asked him is it only for him or is it the same for others who are in the same level. Then he said, it is the normal standard salary levels of any audit firm in Sri Lanka. I called one of my friends who is in another country working for this globally recognized audit firm to see how is their salary schemes. He confirmed me that an auditor with such qualification would get at least $2,000 + other benefits for the same position. I was shocked. It’s the same company, same talent. Same work. I agree you can't pay $2,000 per month in an economy such as Sri Lanka. But can you imagine earning Rs 4,500?
I asked the young auditor, why do you work in this company? Why? What motivates you? Are you enjoying doing voluntary work? Because they knew how large their audit is fees and they don't get even 1% of the fees the company owners earn. I can understand if they were uneducated or people who are with just paper qualifications which cannot perform any work. But these people actually work hard. They have so many capabilities. I pointed him some of the multi nationals in Sri Lanka which pays about 20 times higher salary than what he earns now and I asked him why he will not join those companies.
Then only I understood the real reason behind this exploitation. Institute of Chartered accountants has drawn the guide lines for their students. If they are to face their final level exams they have to have 4 years experience. But they can't work in any company to get this experience. It has to be an approved company by the Institute. Most of the approved companies are audit firms. There are few other companies. But they recruit only few people a year, therefore most students don't have any option than joining an audit firm. Best part is they have to sign an agreement with the firm for 2 or 4 years saying they will not leave the company. If they leave they have to start their training from the beginning at another firm. Therefore they bear all the pain, all the sufferings happening inside these hidden organizations. It was really sad. I asked him why that Institute is having such ridiculous guide lines? Then they told me, people who are heads of this Chartered Institute are the partners of audit firms. That speaks all about it.
People, please be informed. Please know about these organizations. I know we can't do anything about them. I have heard so much about exploitation of labor in Sri Lanka. Recently i saw a salary sheet of a worker who is involved in a strike. If you are reading news papers daily you might have remember this. His monthly salary was more than 100,000/= (1 lac). But never heard any sort of organization fight for the rights of these auditors. I personally hate strikes and other sorts of nasty work. Therefore that’s not my recommendation. But to be honest it’s very frustrating for me to listen to their stories. I can imagine how frustrated it is for them.
Source: http://unfettereddreams.blogspot.com/2007/06/who-gets-lowest-salary-in-our-country.html
