공인회계사 적정선발예정인원에 관한 연구

This study examines the supply of new certified public accountants. Over the last 10 years, Korea has maintained a consistent policy on the examination of certified public accountants(CPA). Every year, about 950 new CPAs have been entered in accounting industry. This study considers changes in accounting and audit market over the last 10 years and reviews the current status of the number of CPAs in Korea. Based on macro and micro factors that affect the supply and demand of accounting services, this study tries to come up with desirable number of new CPAs per year. Every year, the Korea Financial Services Commission decides the number of new CPAs by controlling the minimum number of passes for the uniform examination of certified public accountants. Over the last 10 years, the minimum number of passes has been 850. The reason for setting the minimum number is because Korean government wants to secure a sufficient number of accounting experts in order to maintain and improve accounting transparency. This number was based on a prior research on the supply of new CPAs conducted in 2005. The prior study indicated that, as of August, 2005, the total number of CPAs in Korea was 15,939 which was much fewer than those of most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The sufficient supply of new CPAs is not just a matter of the number of passes of the uniform certification exam, but is an important issue directly related to the size of accounting industry and the status of accounting profession. Accounting firms who audit large corporations may experience difficulty maintaining independence because of the lack of resources or economic dependency on few large clients. If this is the case, it is important for audit firms to maintain a sufficient size and a well diversified revenue structure. By allowing more new CPAs entering the audit market, accounting firms would improve their independence and the quality of their services. This study uses three approaches to conduct the analyses: regression analyses, interviews with key players in accounting market, surveys on ver relevant interested parties. For numerical analyses, this study uses multinational data representing OECD countries to predict expected number of CPAs. This study also considers capacity of accounting firms and related organizations and the size of accounting market. For example, this study considers the number of accountants, total population, the number of public companies, market capitalization, and growth domestic products of 34 countries for regression analyses in predicting the number of accountants. Second, this study uses the number of new hires by Big accounting firms, non-Big 4 accounting firms, auditing groups, regulatory agencies, financial institutions, and other companies to predict future demand for new CPAs. Third, this study uses total number of audit hours and expected available audit hours by an individual CPA. The results of analyses indicate 742 (multinational regression analysis), 834(capacity analysis), and 791(accounting market analysis) new CPAs, respectively. These results suggest that the current level of new CPAs is somewhat excessive. The results of interviews with Big 4 accounting firms suggest that the current level of new CPAs are reasonable given the constraint of audit fees. On the other hand, medium size audit firms express that the current supply of new CPAs need to be reduced by about 200-300 because of severe market competition. Regulators suggest that increasing the number of new CPAs is desirable in order to enhance competitiveness of accounting industry and improve transparency of accounting information. The results of surveys with practicing CPAs, accounting educators, public companies, and financial analyses vary depending on their interests. From the supply side of accounting industry, practicing CPAs and accounting educators, 92.9 % of 1287 respondents suggest the supply reduction of new CPAs. They indicate that severe competition in accounting industry causes the deterioration of service quality and audit independence. From the perspectives of demand for accounting services, 51.6% of responding public companies states that they intend to hire CPAs. Sixty-seven percent of responding public companies express that CPAs’ expertise are needed for their companies. About 78,8 percent of 52 analysts indicate that they need highly professional accounting expertise are needed. This study assumes that current audit environment and practices are maintained in the future. However, the demand for accounting transparency and credibility increases in the future, more new CPAs need to be supplied. In order to improve audit quality, social recognition of the importance of financial statements audit and increasing audit fees would be necessary.