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[Global CEO Lecture Series] Young-Sik Kim, CEO of PwC Korea… “A Great Way to Broaden Your Career Opt
2018.06.01 Views 2501 경영대학
[Global CEO Lecture Series] Young-Sik Kim, CEO of PwC Korea…
“A Great Way to Broaden Your Career Options: CPA”
“A Great Way to Broaden Your Career Options: CPA”
On May 31st, the Business School invited the last guest lecturer for our Global CEO Lecture Series at Supex Hall, LG-POSCO Building. With the guest lecturer Mr. Young-Sik Kim, CEO of PwC Korea, the last special lecture discussed ‘CPA and Accounting Firm’. Mr. Kim is one of our proud KUBS alumni (Business ‘75) who joined Pwc Korea in 1978 and achieved an exceptional performance since then. He is currently a director of public relations at the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA), and a member of evaluation committee at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. In 2003, he won commendation for his great services from minister of Finance and Economy.
Mr. Kim started his lecture by a discussion of the context behind CPA (Certified Public Accountant). He explained, “you can think of CPA as a supervisor of capitalism who looks out for an overall performance of a business’ operation via business accounting in particular. There has been an increasing emphasis on transparency in accounting. As a consequence, the importance of the role of CPA is increasing, too.” And since CPA is literally a certified accountant by law, it is pretty safe to assume that you have competitiveness in the job market once you pass the CPA exam.
Mr. Kim also pointed out that certified public accountants develop a wide range of professional expertise. Since certified public accountants work with clients from diverse industries, you have to develop different knowledge and skills for different tasks. He added, “Generally most jobs ask you to do similar tasks every day. CPAs, however, learn different knowledge and skills to work on each project, so it is a great job to keep an enthusiastic mind.” In addition, it allows you to develop a professional and client-oriented attitude, as well as communication skills.
Mr. Kim also pointed out that certified public accountants develop a wide range of professional expertise. Since certified public accountants work with clients from diverse industries, you have to develop different knowledge and skills for different tasks. He added, “Generally most jobs ask you to do similar tasks every day. CPAs, however, learn different knowledge and skills to work on each project, so it is a great job to keep an enthusiastic mind.” In addition, it allows you to develop a professional and client-oriented attitude, as well as communication skills.
The guest lecturer picked enthusiasm and professionalism as the two most important attitude of employees at accounting firms. By enthusiasm he meant keeping up a hard work but he also emphasized keeping a healthy attitude that is open to other people’s ideas. Mr. Kim explained, “Accounting firms are highly demanding environment, which require you to develop professional expertise.” “Your level of knowledge in the industry matters when meeting the need of clients.” Often employees at accounting firms work at overseas branches because of the size of domestic demand for accounting firms in South Korea. “Out of the world’s accounting firm industry, the market size of accounting firm in South Korea does not exceed 1%. Therefore, the global competitiveness is crucial if you would like to work for an accounting firm.
There are mainly two pathways if you start a career at an accounting firm. One is client service focused specialty and the other is advanced research-based specialty. You will be assigned to either pathway depending on your specialty. Mr. Kim added, “The classification of tasks at accounting firms includes audit, taxation, M&A and so on. So you will be able to build your specialty as you learn from few different departments.”
There are mainly two pathways if you start a career at an accounting firm. One is client service focused specialty and the other is advanced research-based specialty. You will be assigned to either pathway depending on your specialty. Mr. Kim added, “The classification of tasks at accounting firms includes audit, taxation, M&A and so on. So you will be able to build your specialty as you learn from few different departments.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Kim advised the audience to be careful not to think of CPA as your final goal. He explained, “I strongly suggest you to think of CPA preparation as one of stages in your career plan. The CPA exam preparation will be a great way to learn how a business works and how industries operate. It will be a great step to build your career.” “As long as you think about the step afterwards, I can guarantee that CPA preparation will be a great tool that allows you an intensive learning of overall industries.”
The guest lecturer concluded his lecture by stressing the importance of perseverance to the audience. “I cannot stress this enough - continuous learning. But this has to be autonomous learning, not something that is done involuntary” he added.
The guest lecturer concluded his lecture by stressing the importance of perseverance to the audience. “I cannot stress this enough - continuous learning. But this has to be autonomous learning, not something that is done involuntary” he added.