Hundreds of South Koreans who passed this year’s Certified Public Accountant exam are unable to start their careers because there are not enough apprenticeship placements available for licence registration, reported Korea Herald.

Data from the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA) shows that out of 1,200 candidates who passed the CPA exam this year, 443 had not secured an apprenticeship by the end of October.

Including those waiting from earlier years, around 600 individuals remain without placements necessary for full registration.

South Korean CPA candidates must finish at least one year of practical, on-site training after passing the written exam to become licensed.

The current shortfall is attributed to a mismatch between annual licence quotas and the number of available training opportunities, the news publication added, citing experts.

Annual quotas set by the Financial Services Commission have exceeded the available openings since 2019.

Until 2018, the annual number of CPA exam passers—determined by the Financial Services Commission—remained below 1,000 for nearly a decade. Since 2019, it increased that number sharply, rising to 1,250 in 2024 before lowering it to 1,200 in 2025.

KICPA former vice chair Na Cheol-ho noted that this quota increase was based on projections that demand for accountants would spread beyond accounting firms into private and public sectors in response to stricter disclosure and compliance requirements.

However, Cheol-ho noted that this did not lead to greater recruitment of newly qualified accountants.

Cheol-ho said: “In reality, neither private companies nor public institutions are hiring trainee accountants. They prefer accountants who have already completed the minimum training period.”

In 2024, a Board of Audit and Inspection report highlighted an accountant shortage within public institutions. This finding prompted an extra rise in the quota by 150 positions that year.

However, real-world training is mainly offered by four accounting firms, which comprise Samil PwC, EY Hanyoung, Samjong KPMG and Deloitte Anjin. These firms together take about 800 trainees annually.

The Financial Services Commission is reported to have contacted around 100 organisations to encourage them to accept trainees.

In response to local media queries, FSC stated it would not take on trainees due to budget limits and sufficient staffing.

For next year’s exam, the quota will drop slightly by 50 to reach 1,150.

Cheol-ho noted that with 1,150 new candidates expected next year, South Korea is likely to see several hundred more newly certified CPAs facing difficulty in securing employment, raising the total number of trainee accountants without placements to over 1,000.

Demonstrators at a gathering in Gwanghwamun earlier this month called for reducing next year’s quota to below 800 in order to address the “bottleneck” situation facing trainee accountants.

While the Financial Services Commission has promised to seek additional organisations willing to provide practical training opportunities, it has not given specific plans or quotas regarding such expansion, reported the publication.

Industry officials and experts have stated that technology like AI is not a major factor at present.

They point instead to government misjudgement in setting qualification quotas as the main cause of today’s shortage of placements for new CPAs, reported the publication.