Why it matters. It is a concrete case of professional licensing colliding with a tightening job market — a dynamic playing out in many countries where credentials outpace available entry-level positions.
Background. In South Korea, passing the notoriously competitive CPA exam confers only provisional status; a one-year apprenticeship at an approved institution is legally required before one can register and practice. The Financial Services Commission is the top financial policymaker, while the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants is the mandatory professional association that helps administer training. With elite firms unable or unwilling to absorb every successful candidate, a queue of fully qualified but unplaced accountants has built up.
What to watch next. Watch whether the FSC's advance notice this first half of the year and the KICPA's year-end rule changes actually shrink the backlog of unassigned accountants.
The problem in brief
South Korea’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), announced on May 31 a package of measures to help people who pass the national Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam but cannot find a workplace willing to host their mandatory practical training. The plan, finalized on May 29 after review by the FSC’s CPA Qualification and Disciplinary Committee, widens the pool of approved training institutions and the departments where trainees may serve.
Under South Korea’s Certified Public Accountant Act, passing the exam is not enough to register and practice as a CPA. Candidates must first complete at least one year of supervised practical training. In recent years, however, the criteria for designating eligible training institutions have gone largely unchanged even as the accounting field shifts — for example, with the spread of artificial intelligence. The result is a growing backlog of so-called “unassigned accountants”: qualified exam-passers who cannot secure a training placement and therefore cannot begin their careers.
What the FSC is changing
The reform expands the list of approved host institutions. Until now, training was limited mainly to accounting firms, audit teams, the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA, the national professional body), and the Financial Supervisory Service (the country’s integrated financial watchdog). The FSC will add organizations that candidates favor — including the National Assembly, the courts, and the National Pension Service — along with bodies recommended by the KICPA.
The range of eligible departments is also broadening. Training has traditionally been confined to units that prepare financial statements. Going forward, trainees will be able to serve in other departments as well, provided a supervising CPA who manages the training process signs off and the KICPA president approves the placement.
Clearing the backlog
To address those already waiting, the FSC has set up a placement system that prioritizes candidates who have gone the longest without an assignment. In principle, eligibility is limited to people who have been unable to complete practical training for two or more years after passing the exam.
The plan also offers institutions an incentive to take trainees on. When an accounting firm actually hires someone from its assigned pool, the FSC will partially reduce that firm’s “designation exclusion points” — penalty points that count against a firm in the process by which regulators assign companies their statutory auditors. Fewer penalty points means a better standing when audit work is allocated.
Timeline
The FSC plans to issue advance notice of the revised rules on designating CPA training institutions during the first half of this year. The KICPA will draft its own revisions to the training regulations and, after FSC approval, aims to put them into effect before the end of the year.
