Certified Public Accountants to Increase IT Competency Weight from Selection Stage

Financial Services Commission Approves CPA Exam and Education System Improvements on 21st

Incorporating IT Skills, Adjusting Subject Weights, and Extending Exam Duration
Introducing Exam Scope Notification System, Planned Implementation from 2025

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has decided to revise the pre-credit completion system to enhance the information technology (IT) capabilities of new accountants and to gradually expand the mandatory IT-related completion hours during practical training. Considering the changing accounting environment, the exam subjects will be reorganized to focus on content important in practice.

On the 21st, the FSC reviewed and approved improvement measures for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam and practical training education system through the CPA Qualification System Deliberation Committee. The FSC explained, "Since May, we have operated a working group with the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants, industry and companies, and academia," adding, "We compiled the results of the research project and prepared improvement measures, which were reviewed and approved on this day."

Until now, the dominant opinion in the industry has been that the CPA exam system needs revision. Although IT technology is advancing and the accounting environment is rapidly changing, it has been pointed out that these changes are not properly reflected in the exam and practical training stages.

In fact, IT-related subjects required to be completed in advance at universities or other institutions to take the CPA exam are only recognized within accounting and business administration courses and are not classified as separate subjects, resulting in examinees not actively pursuing credits in this area. The exam subjects are also not suitable for measuring IT-related practical skills, and there has been a strong tendency for less important topics in practice to be heavily weighted in the exam. Regarding practical training, the mandatory IT-related completion hours are 10 hours in the first year and 10 hours in the second year, which many argue is insufficient to develop the necessary competencies.

Accordingly, the FSC plans to strengthen IT capabilities throughout the entire pre-credit completion system and CPA practical training process and to fully reflect the importance of professional ethics education. Furthermore, to reduce the burden on examinees, a pre-announcement system for the exam scope will be newly introduced, and adjustments to exam subjects and extensions of exam time will be pursued. The FSC stated, "To increase predictability for examinees, we plan to provide advance notice of the general exam scope common to both the first and second stages by subject."

First, in the pre-credit completion system, IT-related subjects will be separated, requiring completion of 12 credits in accounting, 6 credits in business administration, 3 credits in IT, and 3 credits in economics. For the first exam, to encourage thorough study of accounting and reduce the burden on examinees, the exam time will be extended from 80 minutes to 90 minutes. The scoring for economics and principles of economics will be lowered from 100 points to 80 points, and in commercial law, the negotiable instruments law will be excluded, while the CPA Act and external audit law will be included and reorganized as corporate law. In the second exam, intermediate and advanced accounting will be separated, and exam time will be increased compared to before. The emphasis on management accounting will be increased over cost accounting, and the proportion of IT-related questions in the accounting audit section will be raised. In tax law, questions will also be presented in a short-answer format to measure advanced knowledge.

Finally, in the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants' practical training, considering the importance of IT capabilities and professional ethics, small-scale interactive education will be expanded. Additionally, the mandatory IT-related completion hours will be increased by 20 hours for both the first and second years. Core topics important in practice, such as external audit laws and capital market laws, will be designated as mandatory subjects in the training curriculum.

The related legal amendments for these improvement measures are planned to be promoted in the first half of next year, with a three-year grace period considering examinees' preparation, and implementation is scheduled from 2025. Improvements related to practical training systems will proceed from 2022 after amendments to the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants' related regulations.

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