Hello everyone, this is Global CPA ✨✨
Welcome back to the “10 Questions by Profession” series
This time, I invited a CPA currently working in the Tax Division at KPMG Korea — another member of the Big 4 accounting firms.
I think this interview will be especially helpful for readers interested in becoming tax specialists or exploring tax advisory careers.
1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?
Hello.
I am currently a third-year Senior Associate in the Tax Division at KPMG Korea.
After passing the Korean CPA exam at age 24, I worked for a little over two years in the Tax Advisory Division at Deloitte Korea.
Later, I moved to KPMG Korea’s Tax Division, where I currently work.
My MBTI is ISFJ, although I’m honestly not sure whether that personality type matches accounting and tax advisory work very well 😂
2. Could you briefly explain your firm and division?
KPMG Korea is one of the so-called Big 4 accounting firms and, similar to the other firms mentioned in previous interviews, provides services through:
- Audit
- Tax
- Deal Advisory
- and Consulting divisions.
Personally, one advantage of KPMG Korea is simply the office location near Yeoksam Station, which gives excellent access to Seoul Subway Line 2 🙂
Within the Tax Division, professionals perform a wide variety of tax-related services including:
- tax compliance
- tax investigation support
- tax diagnostics
- tax due diligence (TDD)
- amended refund claims
- and private company stock valuation.
3. What are your current responsibilities?
Most of the companies I currently handle have December fiscal year-ends.
As a result:
- tax adjustments
- and corporate tax filings
are mainly concentrated between January and March.
Quarterly prepayment-related work also appears around July and August.
However, compared to standard tax compliance work, I personally spend more time handling:
- tax advisory engagements
- and specialized projects.
At the moment of this interview, I was working on:
- tax diagnostic projects
- and amended refund claim engagements.
In addition, responding to client inquiries and conducting technical research on:
- tax law
- regulations
- and similar precedents
also make up a large portion of my daily work.
Overall, Tax professionals often handle multiple engagements simultaneously.
4. What made you choose this profession?
I did not originally dream of becoming a CPA in some dramatic way 🙂
During my freshman year of university, I took an introductory accounting course and simply felt that accounting suited me better than other business subjects.
Compared to the uncertainty of general job hunting, the CPA path also felt:
- more structured
- more objective
- and more predictable.
Since I personally dislike uncertainty, that aspect suited me well.
There was also one more reason 😂
Back then, I thought becoming a military finance officer through the CPA route would be better than regular military service.
Ironically, I eventually completed ordinary military service anyway, so that part did not really matter in the end.
5. What do you enjoy most about your current job?
Whenever people ask me about the accounting profession, I often describe it as:
“the second-best career path.”
What I mean is:
for most people, there was probably another profession somewhere that might have fit them even better.
However, accounting still provides meaningful satisfaction in:
- compensation
- career stability
- and professional fulfillment.
Personally, the most rewarding aspect is the feeling of accomplishment when:
- clients
- or internal reviewers
positively evaluate work I completed as a professional.
At the same time, I honestly would not say:
“I absolutely love accounting itself.”
But while I may not love accounting and tax, I also do not strongly dislike them.
And I think that balance is actually important.
If someone truly hated accounting and tax, I think it would be very difficult to remain satisfied in this profession long-term.
6. What do you think are your strengths in this profession?
Honestly, I think my biggest strength is work speed — although maybe that sounds slightly embarrassing to say 😂
I do not mean:
- being exceptionally fast in Excel
- or instantly solving complex tax issues.
Rather, I mean:
when a task is assigned, I usually approach it efficiently enough that:
- the direction is not fundamentally wrong
- deadlines are not delayed unnecessarily
- and reviewers still have enough time to carefully review the work.
In tax advisory work, accuracy matters much more than simply being fast.
So for me, “work speed” means:
- preparing a sufficiently accurate first draft
- while leaving reviewers enough time for proper review.
7. How did you prepare for this career?
Naturally, the first and most important step was passing the CPA exam.
Since I majored in Business Administration, I already satisfied the academic requirements.
The main challenge was simply surviving the exam itself 🙂
I prepared by studying:
- at accounting academies
- and inside my university CPA study group.
To be honest, compared to the amount of effort I invested, I think I was fortunate to pass relatively early.
As for becoming specifically a Tax CPA, I do not think I prepared in any especially unique way beforehand.
If anything, working in practice has continuously reminded me how much more I still need to study.
8. If you could return to freshman year of university, would you choose the same career again?
Honestly, regardless of career decisions, simply returning to freshman year itself would already sound amazing 😂
Tax advisory work is definitely interesting and rewarding.
However, one thing I personally regret slightly is never having experienced audit work directly.
Since I have only lived as a Tax CPA, if I could return to freshman year and pass the CPA exam again, I would probably:
- spend around two years in Audit first
- and then transfer into Tax afterward.
And of course… passing the exam earlier would also be nice 🙂
9. What direction do you envision for your future career?
That is honestly a difficult question 😂
Career 고민 discussions are probably one of the most common topics among Tax CPAs around my level.
Some people:
- move to law firms
- stay at Big 4 firms aiming for partnership
- or eventually consider smaller firms and independent practice.
Compared to Audit or Deal Advisory, Tax work often feels especially difficult because:
the more senior you become, the more responsibility and judgment-heavy decisions you must make.
Broadly speaking, I want to become a tax specialist.
But that still feels somewhat abstract.
For now, I think I will continue until around the first year of Manager level.
If I still feel that tax work genuinely suits me, I will likely continue in Tax long-term.
If not, I may eventually move into something completely unrelated to tax.
Hopefully my partners do not read this interview 😂
10. What would you like to say to students considering this profession?
Recently, many students seem worried about the accounting industry because of:
- economic uncertainty
- hiring conditions
- and broader industry concerns.
Even so, I personally do not think the attractiveness of the CPA profession itself has fundamentally disappeared.
Industries move in cycles.
By the time current students complete preparation and enter firms, the environment may improve again.
As I mentioned earlier, accounting may not always be someone’s “perfect” career.
But if you do not already have another very clear path you strongly want to pursue, becoming a CPA is still a very good option.
As for Tax specifically:
one major advantage is that you often work collaboratively with clients toward the same goal rather than standing opposite them.
Another advantage is that the more effort you invest, the easier it becomes to build expertise and recognition as a specialist.
Work-life balance in Tax is also generally considered somewhat better than:
- audit busy season
- or intensive due diligence projects in Deal Advisory.
That said, for professionals considering transferring into Tax from another division:
I would strongly recommend thinking carefully about:
“Why do I actually want to do Tax?”
rather than simply assuming:
“The work-life balance must be better.”
That concludes the interview with a CPA from KPMG Korea’s Tax Division
Personally, the phrase:
“the second-best career path”
left the strongest impression on me.
I also found the explanation of what “work speed” truly means in professional tax advisory work incredibly relatable.
Once again, thank you sincerely to the CPA who took time out of a busy schedule to participate in this interview.
I’ll return again soon with the next “10 Questions by Profession” series 🙂
Global CPA 
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