“The Auditors” ~ Who Knew Auditing Could Be So Dangerous?

“The Auditors” is a 2024 Korean drama series, with 12 episodes, and categorized as Crime and Mystery, Corporate or Office Drama, and Black Comedy.

SUMMARY: “The Auditors” follows Shin Cha-Il, the new audit team leader at JU Construction, hand-picked by the president to combat internal corruption. The president’s brother, the vice-president, is involved in unethical and likely illegal activities, so an outsider was hired who can’t be swayed by the V.P. and is not afraid to stand up to him. Shin Cha-Il faces challenges with his audit team, including two rookie auditors: Goo Han-Soo, who is warmhearted and trusting, which are personality traits that cause him to be incompetent; and Yoon Seo-Jin, who has a secret relationship with the vice president. The V.P. wants her to inform him about Shin Cha-Il’s audits, in case he needs to cover up his misdeeds. If you are fan of K-dramas dealing with corporate intrigue, add this drama to your watch list.

♦ The New Audit Team Leader Takes His Job Very Seriously

In “The Auditors”, a new audit team leader is personally hand-picked by Hwang Se-Woong, the president of JU Construction. The former audit team leader retired and moved to Florida USA. The president did not promote internally but chose to bring in someone from the outside for two reasons.

• Number 1: Hwang Dae-Woong, the vice president of JU Construction, is dishonest and conducts business using unethical and possibly illegal methods. Also, the vice-president is the president’s brother and he needs sufficient proof of his misdeeds to kick him out! After all, they both have the same father, and it’s not easy to get rid of a nuisance family member.

• Number 2: The president is fully aware of the rampant corruption that exists at JU Construction. It’s been going on for years because the audit team is either really bad at their job or people higher-up in the company disregard their audit findings. Instead of taking corrective actions, they cover up errors, mistakes, and wrongdoings. Sometimes the activities swept under the rug were criminal.

Since the entire audit team is under the thumb of corrupt higher-ups, the president decided the company needed an infusion of “new blood”. Someone with determination, energy, fresh ideas, a new approach to auditing, and most importantly, someone who is fearless! Shin Cha-Il is perfect for the job! He approaches each audit assignment objectively and meticulously: identifies the problems, gathers the information, evidence, and facts to figure out what caused the problems, and then initiates corrective action. The president gave him broad authority to conduct all types of audits in all of the departments of the company; especially “special audits” of persons holding key management and executive positions. (That includes his brother, the vice president.)

The Old Team Adjusts to the New Fearless Leader

Shin Cha-Il has a staff of several auditors but the ones who work closely with him are rookies: Goo Han-Soo and Yoon Seo-Jin.

An Evaluation of Goo Han-Soo:

Goo Han-Soo’s long-term dream and goal was to be transferred to the company’s Florida branch. The first thing the new team leader did was tell Goo Han-Soo that he was not cut out for the job of auditor and he intended to have him transferred to a different department. WHAT? Goo Han-Soo is shocked and heartbroken because he thought he did his job well.

But Shin Cha-Il pointed out that he had not done his job well and that because he was so trusting and warmhearted, he did not properly conduct the audits to reveal the truth. He just accepted what people said without VERIFYING! His actions were ignorant. It is even possible that he even accepted a bribe. Goo Han-Soo’s dream of going to Florida gets pushed aside. What is important now is that he stand his ground and prove to the new audit team leader that he is worthy. Although … ?? … does he have to be cold-hearted like Shin Cha-Il to perform his duties? Can’t he have compassion and be objective?

An Evaluation of Yoon Seo-Jin:

As for Yoon Seo-Jin? On the surface, it appears she does her job well. But she hides a secret: she has a personal relationship with the vice president since childhood. The vice president thinks of her as sort of “his personal spy” who can inform him of what is going on with the audit team. Yoon Seo-Jin does not show it to others, but internally, she is very conflicted. On one hand, she wants to do her job well and to do the right thing. But on the other hand, the vice-president expects her to “keep him in the loop”. She constantly struggles with whether or not she should inform Hwang Dae-Woong about “particulars”. Suppose she tells him something and as a result, something terrible happens. The first audit performed under Shin Cha-Il’s leadership proved that something terrible did happen.

The First Audit Was a Do-Over (Re-Audit)

The very first audit assignment Shin Cha-Il took charge of was a re-audit. The initial audit had not been conducted properly and THE TRUTH was covered up because of “poor auditing”. Once he conducted a proper audit, several misdeeds were revealed. The vice president was forced to apologize publicly. The executive who had followed the Vice-president’s instructions to cover up the incident was TERMINATED. With that audit, Shin Cha-Il showed his team that he would not tolerate them doing a poor job. If he can have an executive removed from his position they could be removed too!

The re-audit conducted by Shin Cha-Il made Goo Han-Soo open his eyes. He realized he had not done his job properly because … he was trusting, ignorant, and did not verify what he had been told. Nevertheless, Goo Han-Soo recognized his mistakes and set about to correct them. He was determined to prove he could do the job and be a good auditor.

Because the re-audit conducted by Shin Cha-Il had revealed that employees had been injured, money had been stolen, and the vice president was directly involved in the cover-up, Yoon Seo-Jin felt like she was walking on eggs. How could she do her job efficiently and not offend the vice president who had been kind to her and her mother? It was a “conflict of interest” but she was the only one who knew she was conflicted. How would Shin Cha-Il react to her, if he learned about the secret relationship?

One thing Shin Cha-Il made perfectly clear to ALL. The audit team under HIS direction and supervision was going to root out the rampant corruption in JU Construction. WHY? Because that’s their job!

Main Characters:

• Shin Cha-Il (played by Shin Ha-Kyun, “Beyond Evil”)
• Goo Han-Soo (played by Lee Jung-Ha, “Moving”)
• Yoon Seo-Jin (played by Jo A-Ram, “The Killer’s Shopping List“)
• Hwang Dae-Woong (played by Jin Goo, “Descendants of the Son”)
• Hwang Se-Woong (played by Jung Moon-Sung, “Divorce Attorney Shin”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 8 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.8 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 8.8 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.5 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is the same as Viki viewers.

In my earlier work life, one of my jobs was as an auditor. I never knew auditing could be this exciting and intense! After watching just 3 episodes of “The Auditors”, I was like: Does the audit team leader ever smile? This man has a stone-cold face that shows no emotion and you might think he’s always angry. The South China Morning Post said he “glowers”. That’s a perfect description. His eyes look like they are shooting daggers straight through you and his lips never even turn slightly upward as if he’s trying to smile. As soon as I saw the main male lead, I thought: ‘That’s my kind of man.’ LOL. So what if he doesn’t smile easily and looks at everybody as if they’re the enemy? He is totally reliable and trustworthy.

(NOTE: If you liked this, check out the PopGeeks review of “Numbers”. A job as an accountant involves much more than bean counting.)

LINKS OF INTEREST:

The Auditors: Everything You Need To Know About The Highly Anticipated Corporate K-Drama | HerZindagi

K-drama The Auditors: Shin Ha-kyun glowers through entertaining workplace corruption drama | South China Morning Post

‘The Auditors’ surges to new ratings peak, while ‘Miss Night and Day’ hits all-time high | Times of India

Shin Ha Kyun Leads Lee Jung Ha, Jo Aram, And More To Fight Corruption In Upcoming Drama “The Auditors” | Soompi

“The Auditors” Soars To Its Highest Ratings Yet + “Miss Night And Day” Returns To All-Time High | Soompi

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

CJ ENM Global. “The Auditors | Official Trailer | CJ ENM.” YouTube Video. YouTube, July 9, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiSM8mxe88.‌