Hello everyone, this is Global CPA ✨✨
Welcome back to the “10 Questions by Profession” series.
For the second interview in this series, I invited a CPA currently working in the Fulcrum Team within PwC Korea’s Audit Division.
PwC Korea has several specialized support teams inside the audit practice, and this interview focuses on one of those specialized valuation support teams.
So for anyone interested in:
- valuation
- audit support
- accounting estimates
- or specialized accounting advisory work
I think this interview will be especially interesting 🙂
1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello, and thank you for inviting me to this interview.
I am currently a fourth-year Senior Associate in the Fulcrum Team within PwC Korea’s Audit Division.
I passed the Korean CPA exam at age 27 and joined PwC Korea’s audit practice immediately afterward.
After working in the core audit team for about three years, I transferred internally to the Fulcrum Team, which is one of the audit support teams.
My MBTI is INFJ 🙂
2. Could you briefly explain your firm and division?
I currently work at PwC Korea, the Korean member firm of the global PwC network.
Although I remain within the audit line of service, my team specifically supports audit engagements rather than leading the entire audit directly.
The Fulcrum Team specializes in areas that involve:
- significant estimation
- valuation
- and professional judgment.
Examples include:
- corporate income tax
- private company valuation
- retirement benefit obligations
- lease-related accounting estimates
- and stock option valuation.
While core audit teams perform control testing and substantive procedures across the entire financial statement, our team focuses deeply on specific accounts that require more technical expertise.
As a result, audit engagement teams often request support from our team whenever particularly difficult or judgment-heavy issues arise.
3. What are your current responsibilities?
Within the Fulcrum Team, I currently focus primarily on:
- payroll-related accounting
- retirement benefit accounting
- and stock option (SO) valuation work.
My role involves supporting the core audit teams by strengthening technical expertise in these specialized areas.
In the future, I expect to expand into:
- private company valuation
- and income tax accounting as well.
During the 2023 audit season alone, I worked on approximately 120 client accounts across multiple audit engagements.
Compared to my colleagues, I think my workload was relatively average.
4. What made you choose this profession?
To be honest, I did not have a very specific dream career when I was younger.
At some point, however, I began thinking seriously about what profession would fit me best.
Even though I majored in Sociology rather than Business Administration, I always liked working with numbers.
Eventually, considering:
- compensation
- social reputation
- and personal aptitude
I decided to challenge myself with the CPA exam.
As for transferring from the core audit team into the Fulcrum Team, the biggest motivation was my desire to build deeper technical expertise.
I was especially attracted to the idea of specializing in accounts that require:
- estimation
- judgment
- and interpretation based on accounting standards.
5. What do you enjoy most about your current job?
Even after transferring internally, our work cycle still closely follows the core audit teams.
That means busy season remains intense.
However, one advantage is that after busy season ends — especially after March — we are usually able to take extended vacations.
Personally, I think being able to use up to four consecutive weeks of vacation without feeling pressured by office culture is a major advantage.
Honestly, that work-life structure was something I considered even before choosing this career path, and I’m still satisfied with it today.
Although I have only completed one full season within the Fulcrum Team so far, I already feel that I have significantly strengthened my expertise in:
- retirement benefit accounting
- and stock option valuation.
That feeling of growing specialization has been very rewarding.
6. What do you think are your strengths in this profession?
Since childhood, I’ve always enjoyed computer games, so I think I naturally developed relatively fast hands and quick processing speed.
During non-busy season, there are often projects involving large amounts of repetitive and detail-heavy work, and I think that speed becomes a real advantage.
Another strength is probably my personality.
I rarely become angry or emotionally reactive, and I think that calmness helps me survive busy season in a healthier way than I otherwise could.
7. How did you prepare for this career?
Since my primary major was Sociology, I first needed to complete the accounting credits required for CPA eligibility.
To do that, I added Business Administration as a double major.
Because the CPA journey is essentially a long marathon rather than a short-term exam, I also spent a lot of time developing a mindset that would allow me to maintain routine and emotional stability over a long period.
I tried to train myself to stay calm even when stressful situations appeared.
Regarding my transfer into the Fulcrum Team, even while working in the core audit team, I constantly tried to understand:
- accounting standards
- and auditing standards
at a deeper level rather than simply following procedures mechanically.
That habit probably helped significantly when transitioning into more specialized technical work later.
8. If you could return to your freshman year of university, would you choose the same career again?
Yes, absolutely.
Even if I returned to freshman year, I believe I would still choose the same career path.
Considering:
- my personality fit
- work satisfaction
- and long-term career satisfaction
I honestly think the CPA profession was the best choice for me.
9. What direction do you envision for your future career?
For now, I want to continue developing specialized expertise within my current role.
More specifically, I hope to strengthen my technical abilities in:
- consolidated accounting
- corporate tax
- and other highly judgment-based accounting areas.
Long-term, I would also be interested in working in environments such as:
- accounting firm quality review divisions
- or highly specialized technical accounting teams
where deep expertise in particular accounting standards or account balances is especially valued.
10. What would you like to say to students considering this profession?
Accounting is definitely a profession with many advantages, but it also comes with very real disadvantages.
Busy season can be extremely difficult both physically and mentally.
The CPA exam itself is also more like a marathon than a sprint.
So before entering this profession, I think students should honestly ask themselves:
- whether they are suited for long-term endurance-based challenges
- and whether this career truly fits their own situation and personality.
But once you decide to begin, I believe the best approach is:
do not become overly anxious, and continue moving forward steadily and consistently.
That concludes the second interview in the “10 Questions by Profession” series with a CPA from PwC Korea’s Fulcrum valuation support team.
Personally, I thought it was fascinating to hear about a team that specializes in highly judgment-based accounting areas requiring deep technical expertise.
Once again, thank you sincerely to the interviewee for participating in this interview.
I’ll return again soon with the next “10 Questions by Profession” series 🙂
Global CPA 
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