The number of "unassigned accountants," who passed this year's certified public accountant exam but were not placed with a practical training institution, has surged, and the trend is unlikely to reverse next year. Among the passers, some are now seriously considering jobs at general corporations instead of accounting firms.
According to the accounting industry on the 2nd, estimates suggest the number of unassigned accountants next year could total around 1,000.
Unassigned accountants refers to those who passed the certified public accountant (CPA) exam but were not assigned to the practical training institution that is mandatory to work as a full-fledged accountant.
According to the Korean Accounting Association and others, of this year's 1,200 passers, only 338 (28%) had been registered with training institutions as of Oct. 22. Among last year's passers, 114 failed to find a training institution. The industry says that if the hiring freeze continues at this year's level, the cumulative number of unassigned accountants next year is likely to far exceed 1,000.
A young accountant with the emergency committee for normalizing CPA selection numbers said, "A significant number of this year's passers were not designated to training institutions," adding, "If 1,150 passers come out again next year, the cumulative number of unassigned accountants could approach around 1,000."
Given the situation, some of those who passed the CPA exam are considering jobs in private companies. A member of the emergency committee said, "There is a group chat with about 500 unassigned accountants, and every day new people say they are considering banks or private companies."
The mood is just as uneasy among junior accountants currently on the job. An accountant who found a job in 2023 said, "When I joined, firms were eager to hire us, but now even when classmates pass, there are no jobs," adding, "Almost all are unassigned accountants." Another accountant said, "Even if we want to resign, we can't because there are no openings," and "Only senior management is pleased that labor costs have fallen, and the office is unsettled."
The root cause is that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) sharply increased the supply of accountants.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) kept the minimum number of passers at 1,100 from 2020 to 2023, but after the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out a shortage of accountants at non-accounting firm public institutions, it increased the number by 150 to 1,250 last year.
The result was a large-scale unassignment crisis. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) belatedly offered a "stopgap" of cutting the number by only 50 to 1,200 this year and 1,150 next year, but industry consensus is that this is far from enough to absorb the backlog of unassigned passers plus new passers. Chun Gyu-an, a professor at Soongsil University, said, "They selected more people than accounting firms can accommodate, which created the problem."
On top of that, with the downturn in the accounting industry and advances in AI technology, the structure of labor demand itself is said to be changing from the ground up. A source at a major accounting firm said, "We're locked in low-fee competition and labor costs are tight, so the reasons to hire people are disappearing."
Kim Beom-jun, a professor at Catholic University, said, "Accounting firms are pouring money into AI right now," adding, "Simple, repetitive tasks done by first- to third-year staff can be assigned to AI. Structural demand for unskilled juniors has no choice but to decline."
One passer said, "Senior accountants say, 'First-years make mistakes even after being taught, but AI doesn't make mistakes without being taught. So why hire first-years?'" adding with a sigh, "It was meant as a joke, but it's not funny at all."
Accountants are also moving to collective action. The preparatory committee for a rally of 30,000 certified public accountants to normalize selection numbers and improve the training system said it will hold a rush-hour rally every Monday in front of the Government Complex Seoul.