FRA Korea

December 12, 2022

FRA Korea – the firm’s 12th global location – marks our first physical presence in the Asia Pacific region.

The forensics and advisory market in the country has grown considerably over the past two decades, largely driven by increasing enforcement efforts by the Korean government. In collaboration with local partners who are well respected leaders in their market, we look forward to bringing FRA’s full service offering and breadth of expertise to corporations, government-related entities, and financial institutions, across a range of areas such as sanctions, bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering, and compliance.

Bridging Domestic Regulatory Trends with International Best Practice

FRA Korea hosted a launch seminar at the JW Marriott Seoul on 7 December 2022, alongside speakers from FRA’s US and UK offices. Representatives from government, major Korean corporations and law firms joined us to hear the FRA team’s view of the potential for forensic services in Korea.

Agenda

Session 1: Why Korea, Why Now

Korean regulatory landscape, the era of embezzlement,
presented by Hea-Sil Chang
FRA in emerging regulatory environments,
presented by Frances McLeod

Session 2: Key Enforcement Areas

Anti-Money Laundering,
presented by Roy Pollitt
Sanctions,
presented by Charlie Steele
Fraud, Bribery and Corruption,
presented by James Yoo

FRA Korea Leadership

Young-gak “Ken” Yun (윤영각), Senior Advisor of FRA Korea, said: “Korea has rapidly become the world’s 10th largest economy, but that growth comes with a dark side. I have concerns about recent embezzlement and money laundering cases in Korea, especially their types, frequency and scale. Such corruption is becoming more sophisticated and difficult to detect by traditional accounting audit. I think it’s time for us to implement more advanced forensic risk management systems to make our society more transparent and clean. I am sure that FRA’s advanced skills and technologies in these areas with help us work with clients to work towards resolving such issues in our society.”

Ui-sung Kim (김의성), Managing Partner of FRA Korea, said: “I am very pleased to have a chance to introduce FRA’s advanced forensic technologies and expertise to Korean businesses. In particular, I am confident that our capabilities with machine learning and high-volume data analysis will help fast-growing and multinational Korean corporations to review millions of documents in a cost effective, secure and efficient manner, while minimizing data privacy and security risks.”

Hea-sil Chang (장혜실), Partner of FRA Korea, said: “Korea has very unique forensic accounting regulations. The ‘Act on External Audit of Stock’, for example, requires that a company’s audit committee, upon being notified by external auditors of a violation of accounting standards, should appoint an external expert to investigate the violation. However, the appointment of accounting firms to investigate these violations has constantly raised questions about independence. I am very excited for FRA Korea to offer a credible alternative to the Big Four accounting firms, assuring Korean companies of quality, independent forensic accounting advice without having to worry about conflicts of interest.”

Global Team