Hello everyone, this is Global CPA ✨✨
Welcome back to the “10 Questions by Profession” series.
For the third interview in this series, I invited a CPA currently working in the Tax Division at PwC Korea — one of the major pillars of the firm alongside Audit and Deal Advisory.
Since this interview focuses on the Tax line of service rather than audit, I think readers interested in:
- taxation
- tax advisory
- corporate tax
- and tax career paths
will especially enjoy this conversation 🙂
1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello.
I am currently a sixth-year Manager in the Tax Division at PwC Korea.
I passed the Korean CPA exam at age 29 and initially joined PwC Korea’s Audit Division.
After spending two years performing audit work, I internally transferred into the Tax line of service, where I currently work.
2. Could you briefly explain your firm and division?
PwC Korea is one of the major accounting firms in Korea and provides a wide range of professional services through:
- Audit
- Deal Advisory
- and Tax.
The Tax Division primarily handles:
- tax compliance
- tax investigation support
- tax appeals
- and tax diagnostics/advisory work.
In other words, we do much more than simply preparing tax returns.
3. What are your current responsibilities?
As mentioned earlier, our core responsibility is performing corporate tax adjustments for:
- domestic corporations
- and foreign-invested companies operating in Korea.
In Korea, corporate income tax returns must generally be filed within three months after year-end closing.
Since most companies close their books in December, tax season usually continues intensely through March.
Our team also handles several companies with March fiscal year-ends, so in practice our busy season often extends through June.
In addition to tax compliance work, I also participate in:
- tax investigation support
- and tax diagnostic engagements.
Tax investigation support means assisting companies during tax audits conducted by the National Tax Service (NTS), essentially representing and defending the company’s position.
Tax diagnostic work, meanwhile, usually involves more technically complex and judgment-heavy issues than standard tax compliance work.
4. What made you choose this profession?
Honestly, I did not have some grand dream or dramatic reason for choosing accounting.
I graduated high school, entered university, and experienced life fairly normally like many others.
At some point, however, I started seriously thinking:
“What kind of profession actually suits me?”
Compared to rigid legal studies, I felt naturally more interested in numbers and quantitative thinking.
That curiosity eventually led me toward accounting and the CPA path.
(Although, Honestly… accounting probably has much less actual mathematics than most people expect 😂)
5. What do you enjoy most about your current job?
Overall, I am partially satisfied with my current profession — and I continue trying to appreciate its positive aspects.
Accounting is one of those professions where:
- if you ask someone to list the advantages, they could talk endlessly
- but if you ask about the disadvantages, they could also talk endlessly 🙂
Personally, one of the most satisfying aspects is that the knowledge directly helps in real life.
For example, I’m often able to help friends or acquaintances with:
- accounting questions
- tax-related issues
- or practical financial concerns.
I also enjoy the opportunity to visit many different companies and gain exposure to a wide variety of industries and business situations.
That exposure itself feels very valuable.
6. What do you think are your strengths in this profession?
I think one of my biggest strengths is skepticism.
As accountants and tax professionals, we absolutely need to listen carefully to what clients explain.
However, I also believe we should avoid unconditional trust.
Sometimes a company representative explains that:
“The situation is clearly A.”
But after reviewing the actual details carefully, you realize:
“It’s actually B.”
And if the reality turns out to be B instead of A, the entire engagement may need to be redone from the beginning.
So I think approaching cases with healthy skepticism is one of my strongest professional traits.
7. How did you prepare for this career?
The first and most important step was obviously passing the CPA exam.
Since I majored in Business Administration, I already satisfied most of the eligibility requirements.
What remained was simply surviving the exam itself 🙂
To prepare, I joined:
- accounting academies
- and my university’s CPA study group.
Looking back, one of the nicest memories from that period was actually studying together with friends who were preparing for the same goal.
8. If you could return to your freshman year of university, would you choose the same career again?
Yes, definitely.
If I returned to freshman year, I would still choose the CPA path.
Of course, I would probably try to study harder and pass earlier 😂
But at the same time, many of my best memories came from struggling through the CPA journey together with friends.
So honestly, even if I could go back, I’m not sure I would actually change much.
9. What direction do you envision for your future career?
My long-term goal is to become a true tax specialist.
And personally, I think the word “specialist” carries enormous responsibility.
Passing the CPA exam was important, but in many ways I feel that the real studying only begins afterward.
So moving forward, I want to:
- continue gaining practical experience
- deepen my accounting and tax expertise
- and eventually establish myself as a true tax expert.
10. What would you like to say to students considering this profession?
Some people will probably agree with my thoughts, while others may disagree 🙂
But personally, I genuinely believe accounting is a profession worth pursuing.
The journey requires:
- significant time
- effort
- and sacrifice.
However, once you finally achieve it, I believe the rewards can exceed the energy you invested.
So honestly:
don’t overthink it too much — just start 🙂
And for CPAs currently considering an internal transfer into Tax from Audit, I would also add one piece of advice:
Do not transfer simply because audit busy season feels difficult.
Instead, think carefully about:
- what kind of specialist you want to become
- and what area of expertise you truly want to build.
When transferring into Tax, factors such as:
- prior audit experience
- how that experience can be utilized in Tax
- and your long-term specialization goals
are much more important than age or other superficial factors.
That concludes the third interview in the “10 Questions by Profession” series with a CPA from PwC Korea’s Tax Division
Personally, before this interview, I did not fully understand what tax professionals actually worked on day to day.
So it was fascinating to learn more about:
- tax investigation support
- tax diagnostics
- and how specialized the Tax division really is.
I was also especially impressed by the advice given to auditors considering an internal transfer into Tax.
Once again, thank you sincerely to the interviewee for taking the time to participate in this interview.
I’ll return soon with the next “10 Questions by Profession” series 🙂
Global CPA 
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