Kim Young-sik Re-elected as Chairman of Korea Air Sports Association... "The Next 2-3 Years Are a Crucial Period Determining the Future" (Comprehensive)

Chairman Kim "Need to Ease Corporate Regulations"
"Accounting is National Infrastructure"

Kim Young-sik, President of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants
[Photo by Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Kim Young-sik, chairman of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA), has succeeded in his reappointment and will continue his term for another two years.

Chairman Kim was elected as the 46th president with 59.5% of the vote at the 68th regular general meeting of KICPA held on the 15th.

There were a total of 19,989 members eligible to vote, of whom 65.12% participated. Kim received 7,744 votes, while Na Cheol-ho, the candidate for vice president, received 5,273 votes. For vice president and auditor positions, Jeong Chang-mo (Samdeok Accounting Corporation), the current KICPA auditor, and Moon Byung-moo, an accountant at Mirae Accounting Corporation, were elected. The election was conducted through both electronic and on-site voting.

Kim Young-sik, born in 1957, graduated from Korea University Business School and joined Samil Accounting Corporation in 1978. From 2009 to 2014, he served as the head of the tax and audit division at Samil Accounting Corporation and became CEO in 2016. He led Samil Accounting Corporation for over four years thereafter.

During his previous term as KICPA chairman, Kim successfully established the new External Audit Act. He is also recognized for several achievements in accounting reform, such as calculating standard audit hours based on the characteristics of each company.

KICPA is a statutory organization established to promote the rights, job improvement, and development of approximately 24,000 certified public accountants. It is also entrusted by financial authorities with duties such as supervision and guidance, including inspections.

Chairman Kim stated, "I believe the next two to three years will be a critically important period that will determine the future of our industry. We will promptly reorganize the executive team and address the numerous pending issues in accordance with the will of our approximately 25,000 members."

Kim explained his future plans during a meeting with reporters. Regarding the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s deregulation and accounting reform, he said, "Deregulation of corporate regulations is absolutely necessary. However, since accounting is a national infrastructure, I have doubts about whether it can be considered a regulation. Among the 110 major tasks of the current government, two items concern establishing accounting transparency mechanisms. I interpret this as a request to perform better than previous administrations in terms of accounting transparency, and I will strive accordingly."

Regarding the initiatives related to the accounting symbiotic ecosystem that he has emphasized, he said, "I believe we have established a symbiotic platform encompassing professional expertise, intergenerational and member cooperation, and cooperation with clients."

On the scale of certified public accountant recruitment, he said, "The recruitment scale has been frozen for the past two years. As demand for accountants has increased, there has been a return of members who had moved into general industries, resulting in a certain increase in supply."

Regarding recent consecutive embezzlement cases, while advocating the necessity of a job rotation system, he emphasized, "Primarily, companies must establish measures to prevent theft."

Additionally, KICPA is currently discussing issues related to accounting treatment of virtual currencies. A KICPA official explained, "Even if regulations are not yet established, auditors must conduct audits, so research has begun. We commissioned a research project from the Accounting Association to investigate what issues exist and how they are handled overseas."

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