About me
I'm Yonghyeon You, a Korean Certified Public Accountant (KICPA) and Director at Sinseung Accounting Firm in Seoul, with 10+ years of experience in audit and advisory work.
Much of my day is spent translating Korean accounting, audit rules and tax-driven valuation practices for people who don't read Korean: HQ finance teams, CFOs of Korean subsidiaries, and deal teams evaluating Korean targets. I started this site because the same questions come up again and again, and good English answers are hard to find.
What I do
- Statutory audits of Korean companies
- Accounting support for foreign-owned companies in Korea — closing, HQ reporting packages, and choosing or converting between K-GAAP, K-IFRS, IFRS and US GAAP to fit your structure
- Valuation of unlisted shares and businesses, for transactions, tax and financial reporting
- M&A advisory — buy-side and sell-side financial due diligence and transaction support
Selected experience
- Converted a US subsidiary's US GAAP financial statements into K-IFRS for its Korean parent's consolidation
- Many IFRS / K-IFRS ↔ K-GAAP conversions for Korean companies
- Combined a US branch into a Korean company's financial statements
Background
- Korean CPA (KICPA), passed the CPA exam in 2012
- Director, Sinseung Accounting Firm (2022 – present)
- EY Han Young, Ernst & Young's Korean member firm (2015 – 2019; Manager, 2021 – 2022)
- Yeil Accounting Corporation (2019 – 2021)
- Before accounting firms: Corporate Strategy Division, Hyundai Glovis (2015)
- Industries: many, most often manufacturing
- Languages: Korean (native), English (professional — calls and written communication)
Working in English
I handle calls, emails and documents directly in English. If your team has no Korean speaker, that's fine: you can work with me without a translator in the middle.
How engagements work
All engagements are performed through Sinseung Accounting Firm, subject to the firm's client acceptance and independence procedures. If your company is already an audit client of the firm, some advisory services may not be available because of independence rules — I'll tell you upfront.