Hello everyone, this is Global CPA ✨✨
Welcome back to the “10 Questions by Profession” series.
For the fourth interview in this series, I invited a CPA currently working in the Deal Advisory division at PwC Korea — an area many people are especially curious about.
Often referred to as:
- Deal Advisory
- Deals
- or FAS (Financial Advisory Services)
this division attracts many professionals interested in non-audit career paths within accounting firms 🙂
So if you are curious about:
- financial due diligence
- valuation
- M&A advisory
- or transaction-related work
I think this interview will be especially interesting.
1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello.
I am currently a seventh-year Manager in the Deal Advisory division at PwC Korea.
I passed the Korean CPA exam at age 27 and initially joined PwC Korea’s Audit Division.
After spending three years performing audit work, I internally transferred into the Deal Advisory division, where I have now worked for nearly four years.
2. Could you briefly explain your division, especially compared with Audit?
Other interviewees already explained PwC Korea quite well, so I’ll focus more on the difference between Audit and Deal Advisory 🙂
I joined the audit practice at age 27 and experienced three full audit busy seasons there.
During that time, I handled various responsibilities ranging from confirmation requests to revenue and inventory testing for smaller companies.
Although my time in audit was not extremely long, I also would not call it short.
Within Deal Advisory, our team handles:
- financial due diligence (FDD)
- valuation work
- and M&A advisory services.
The biggest difference between Audit and Deal Advisory is probably:
- predictability
- and the structure of busy periods.
Audit has clearly defined busy seasons:
- year-end audits
- quarterly reviews
- half-year reviews
which create extremely intense work-life imbalance during certain periods.
However, outside those seasons, unexpected urgent projects are relatively less common.
Deal Advisory works differently.
Instead of one long concentrated busy season, we work project by project.
That means:
- there is less seasonality
- but projects can suddenly appear at any time.
For example, it’s not unusual to suddenly be staffed onto a new project in the morning and have to cancel evening plans immediately afterward 😂
Audit vs Deal Advisory
| Audit | Deal Advisory |
|---|---|
| Predictable workflow | Less predictable workflow |
| Clear busy season | Project-based busy periods |
| Easier long-term scheduling | Sudden staffing changes possible |
| Seasonal intensity | Multiple shorter intense projects |
Advantages of Deal Advisory:
- No traditional audit busy season
- More flexibility outside projects
Disadvantages:
- Lower predictability
- Frequent project-driven deadlines
3. What are your current responsibilities?
Deal Advisory primarily performs:
- Financial Due Diligence (FDD)
- Valuation
- and M&A Advisory work.
Financial Due Diligence involves analyzing and understanding a company’s financial statements from:
- either the buyer’s perspective
- or the seller’s perspective.
Even if audited financial statements already exist, FDD often involves reviewing:
- off-balance-sheet items
- working capital
- EBITDA adjustments
- financial ratios
- and transaction-specific risks.
Valuation work involves using methodologies such as:
- DCF (Discounted Cash Flow)
- option pricing models
- and other valuation frameworks.
M&A advisory can be thought of as a more integrated process combining both FDD and valuation work together.
In addition to these services, PwC Korea’s Deal Advisory practice also handles:
- infrastructure advisory
- real estate advisory
- and various strategic consulting services.
4. What made you choose this profession?
Until university, I honestly did not fully understand what accountants actually did.
I vaguely assumed accounting was simply about “processing accounting entries” 🙂
Then I took a Corporate Finance course.
During one team project, we analyzed financial statements and debated from both:
- buyer-side
- and seller-side perspectives
using financial calculations and transaction assumptions.
That project completely changed how I viewed the profession.
For the first time in my life, I felt:
“This might actually be my future career.”
The experience of applying everything I had learned into real decision-making discussions was genuinely exciting.
That was the moment I decided to pursue accounting seriously.
5. What do you enjoy most about your current job?
Overall, I’m very satisfied with my career.
To be honest, inside Deal Advisory, the KICPA license itself sometimes feels less critical than people expect.
Of course it matters.
But in many situations:
- people with exceptional business insight
- or near-native foreign language ability
can outperform CPAs operationally.
In Deal Advisory, technical qualifications alone are not enough.
You must constantly improve:
- communication
- commercial understanding
- analytical thinking
- and execution ability.
Personally, the most rewarding part is feeling my capabilities improve over time through that investment.
And honestly, the feeling of delivering exactly what a client wants after pouring everything into a project is incredibly satisfying.
That feeling becomes the motivation that keeps me continuing this career despite the intensity.
6. What do you think are your strengths in this profession?
I think my biggest strength is emotional steadiness.
Even when I was in Audit, I never hated audit work itself.
I transferred because:
“Deal Advisory was what I truly wanted to do.”
I think I was able to survive both environments relatively well because I consistently tried to maintain a mindset of:
“This too shall pass.”
Of course… sometimes that mindset temporarily breaks when unexpected projects appear 😂
7. How did you prepare for this career?
The most important requirement was obviously obtaining the CPA license.
Without a KICPA qualification, entering either:
- Audit
- or Deal Advisory
at a Big 4 firm is extremely difficult.
While working in Audit, I also spent a great deal of time studying:
- financial statements
- operational processes
- and accounting systems.
Many senior professionals advised me that:
the financial statement analysis skills developed during audit become highly useful later in Deal Advisory and due diligence work.
Another important preparation was honestly physical fitness.
Not only Deal Advisory, but Big 4 accounting work in general requires significant stamina.
There are always multiple deadlines, and overtime work is extremely common.
To manage that physically, I consistently work out before going to the office.
8. If you could return to freshman year of university, would you choose the same career again?
Yes, I think I would.
I probably would still experience some uncertainty and wandering early on.
But if I encountered that same Corporate Finance project again, I believe I would ultimately choose the same path.
Although my plans to seriously study:
- English
- and Python
have continuously been postponed 😂
overall, I still feel satisfied with my career progression so far.
Even if I returned ten years into the past, I think I would still:
- study accounting
- build practical financial statement experience through Audit
- and eventually transition into Deal Advisory.
9. What direction do you envision for your future career?
My long-term goal is to become an M&A specialist.
Right now, I’m still learning:
- through projects
- through people
- and through practical experience inside the Deal Advisory division.
But eventually, I would like to work at:
- a Private Equity firm
- or an Investment Bank.
Currently, I’m considering both:
- domestic opportunities
- and international opportunities.
If Korea’s economic environment continues struggling, I may invest more heavily into foreign languages and pursue work abroad.
To prepare for that future, I’m continuously studying:
- English
- specialized industry materials
- and automation/programming tools.
Sometimes people ask:
“If you can already do this work inside an accounting firm, why consider moving elsewhere?”
My answer is simple:
Even when people perform similar work, it matters greatly which player actually controls the transaction and decision-making process.
10. What would you like to say to students considering this profession?
The accounting profession is honestly far broader than most people imagine.
Even just looking at the core CPA subjects:
- Financial Accounting
- Cost Accounting
- Tax
- Corporate Finance
- Auditing
each one can branch into countless different career paths.
At the same time, technology and industries continue evolving rapidly.
That means:
- entirely new business models
- and completely new transaction structures
will continue appearing in the future.
Fifteen years ago, people would never have believed that:
you could rent cars directly from your phone through a platform business.
Today, mobility platforms have become enormous industries.
So for students currently preparing for the CPA journey:
I hope you study with the mindset that you can eventually become a specialized accounting professional in almost any industry.
Beyond textbooks and problem books, there are many fascinating experiences and careers waiting ahead 🙂
That concludes the fourth interview in the “10 Questions by Profession” series with a CPA from PwC Korea’s Deal Advisory division 🙂
Personally, I found the discussion about:
- financial due diligence
- valuation
- and long-term M&A career goals
especially inspiring.
As mentioned during the interview, I’ll also organize a future KICPA/finance series explaining technical terms such as:
- financial due diligence
- valuation
- and related Deal Advisory concepts 🙂
Once again, thank you sincerely to the interviewee for taking the time to participate in this interview.
I’ll return again soon with the next “10 Questions by Profession” interview series!
Global CPA 
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