Big 4 New Hires Plummet... Next Year's Accountant Exam Passers Likely to Be Adjusted

Big 4 Hiring Drastically Reduced, Increasing Recruitment Burden
Concerns Over Employment Crisis If Supply Surplus Continues

[Asia Economy Reporters Jihwan Park and Minji Lee] The number of successful candidates for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam next year is expected to decrease by up to 50. This is attributed to the Big 4 accounting firms?Samil, Samjong, Hanyoung, and Anjin?significantly reducing their new accountant recruitment this year, making it difficult for CPA exam passers to find employment.

According to the accounting industry on the 5th, the number of candidates to be selected for the 56th CPA exam next year is expected to decrease by up to 50 compared to this year. The exact number of selections will be decided after the financial authorities receive the final statistics on new accountant recruitment from the accounting industry this year.

Currently, the financial authorities are reportedly feeling burdened about increasing the number of selections while the Big 4 accounting firms have reduced new accountant recruitment by about 300 compared to last year. If mid-sized accounting firms express difficulties in training new accountants and the industry concludes that accommodating the current level of successful candidates is challenging, it is highly likely that the number of successful candidates will be capped at around 1,050.

If the reduction in the number of CPA exam passers proceeds, it would be a decision made one year earlier than originally planned. Previously, the CPA Qualification System Deliberation Committee, which determines the number of CPA passers annually, announced in November last year that it would reduce the number of successful candidates from 2022 onward to reflect the decline in the population in their 20s and 30s. The Financial Services Commission is expected to finalize the number of successful candidates shortly after gathering opinions at the committee meeting scheduled for mid-November. According to relevant laws, the announcement of the number of successful candidates must be made at least three months before the first CPA exam, which is in February next year.

Until now, the industry has raised voices calling for a reduction in the number of successful candidates, fearing that more than 300 new accountants who failed to be hired by the Big 4 accounting firms this year would accumulate. This is because if the supply continues to exceed demand, an unexpected 'employment crisis' could erupt all at once.

This year, the total number of successful CPA exam candidates reached 1,110, the largest ever. This is an increase of 101 from last year's 1,009. On the other hand, the number of new accountants hired by the Big 4 is expected to be the lowest since 2014, when it was 771. This raises questions about whether the industry can accommodate all new accountants.

Samjong Accounting Firm recently completed hiring 267 new accountants. Samil Accounting Firm revised its initial plan from hiring 250 to 220. Anjin Accounting Firm plans to hire between 120 and 150, which is up to 30 fewer than before, and Hanyoung Accounting Firm is expected to hire 20 to 30 fewer than the initial 200. Assuming the minimum numbers, a total of 777 new accountants will be hired. Compared to last year's 1,059 hires, this represents a 26.6% decrease.

Since 2016, the number of new accountants hired by the Big 4 has consistently exceeded the number of CPA exam passers. However, after the introduction of the new External Audit Act in 2018, the value of accountants increased, leading to a decrease in resignations and a notable trend of experienced accountants being rehired, which sharply reduced the demand for new accountant recruitment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.