Last year, domestic accounting firms posted 6 trillion won in revenue, up 3.8% from a year earlier. Audit institutional sector revenue increased 3.2% from the previous year, slowing from the prior year's 4.7%.
According to the "Analysis of 2024 fiscal year accounting firm business reports" released by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 24th, revenue at 254 registered domestic accounting firms totaled 6 trillion won, up about 200 billion won (3.8%) from last year.
As of the end of March this year, the number of accounting firms rose by 21 from last year as small firms increased significantly. The change reflects a revision to the Certified Public Accountant Act last year that reduced the number of CPAs required to establish a firm from 10 to 7. As of July, 39 firms are registered as auditors of listed companies.
The number of registered accountants belonging to accounting firms was 14,622, up 593 (3.7%) from the previous year (15,829). Those affiliated with registered firms accounted for 78.5%, the majority, and the Big Four accounted for 46.3% of the total.
By accounting firm revenue institutional sector, ▲ audit 2.1 trillion won ▲ management consulting 2 trillion won ▲ tax 1.8 trillion won, each up 3.2%, 3.1%, and 6.6% from a year earlier. The Big Four posted a combined 3 trillion won in revenue. Samil recorded 1.1094 trillion won, Samjeong 765.5 billion won, Ahnjin 507.4 billion won, and Hanyoung 464.5 billion won.
The audit institutional sector growth rate slowed from 16.7% in 2022 to 4.7% in 2023 and 3.2% last year, while management consulting turned around from negative growth the previous year. Tax institutional sector revenue rose 6.6% from a year earlier.
All accounting firms handled 36,756 external audits, up 6.1% from last year, continuing an upward trend as the number of companies subject to external audit increased. Of these, registered firms handled 20,587 cases (56.0%), and the Big Four handled 4,844 cases (13.2%).
Average audit fees fell 4.5% from last year to 46.8 million won, extending a decline since 2022. Average audit fees were 184.7 million won for the Big Four, 71.6 million won for registered firms, and 15.2 million won for small firms. They fell 4.4%, 4.2%, and 2.1% from a year earlier, respectively.
A total of 229 directors at 41 accounting firms received compensation of 500 million won or more last year. Of these, 139 were at the Big Four, accounting for 60.7% of the total. The average compensation for directors earning 500 million won or more was 790 million won, and 820 million won at the Big Four. Samil disclosed the largest number at 79.
Registered firms' budgets for quality control averaged 3.0% of total budgets. That was down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier.
The Financial Supervisory Service noted that auditors need to strengthen audit quality and risk management and ensure sufficient staff and time to carry out thorough external audits.
An official at the Financial Supervisory Service said, "We plan to strengthen checks on audit quality, including whether sufficient time is invested and independence is maintained during external audits, through auditor inspections."