Hello everyone, this is Global CPA ✨✨

Welcome back to the “10 Questions by Profession” series 🙂

This time, I invited a USCPA currently working in the CS Division at KPMG Korea — a career path many people become curious about after obtaining the USCPA license.

I think this interview will be especially helpful for readers wondering:

• “What kind of career can I pursue after passing the USCPA?”
• “Can USCPAs work in consulting?”
• “What kind of work do accounting consultants actually do?”

Then let’s begin the interview 🙂

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1. Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Hello!

I am currently a first-year Manager in the CS Division at KPMG Korea.

After graduating from university in Korea, I worked for approximately six years at Hyundai Motor Company and an LG-affiliated company.

In 2022, I passed the USCPA exam and later joined KPMG Korea, where I have now worked in the CS Division for two years.

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2. Could you briefly explain your firm and division?

KPMG Korea, more formally Samjong KPMG, is one of the Big 4 accounting firms and is divided into four major divisions:

• Audit
• Tax
• Deal Advisory
• and CS (Consulting Services).

The Audit division primarily performs:

• audit engagements
• internal control advisory
• and financial statement consulting.

The Tax division handles tax compliance and tax advisory services.

The Deal division focuses on:

• M&A
• financial due diligence
• and valuation work.

Meanwhile, the division I belong to mainly performs management consulting and operational advisory work.

More specifically, our team handles Process Innovation projects.

In simple terms, we:

• analyze a company’s current operational processes
• identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies
• and improve processes related to:
  • finance
  • cost accounting
  • manufacturing
  • procurement
  • logistics
  • and sales operations.

Our ultimate goal is helping companies improve profitability and operational efficiency.

Importantly, we do not only provide recommendations.

We also participate in:

• SAP ERP system design
• and ERP implementation projects.

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Our Team Structure

Our team is divided into three major groups:

1. Operations Consulting

This group analyzes current business processes and identifies operational improvement opportunities.

2. SAP ERP Design

This group designs ERP structures and workflows based on those improvement strategies.

3. SAP ERP Implementation

This final group actually configures and builds the ERP system for the client.

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Compared to Deal or Tax divisions, which often work mainly from headquarters, our consulting teams frequently work on-site at client companies.

Personally, I think that is one of the biggest advantages of this role.

Each project involves:

• different industries
• different client teams
• and different operational environments.

That creates excellent networking opportunities and allows us to deeply understand various industries.

However, one downside is that unlike Audit or Tax, we do not really have a traditional “busy season.”

Instead, you could say we are busy all year round 😂

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3. What are your current responsibilities?

Within our team, I mainly perform:

• financial accounting
• and management accounting operations consulting.

Internally, we often call this role:
FCM (Financial Chain Management) Consulting.

My main responsibilities involve:

• analyzing clients’ accounting and management accounting processes
• and identifying areas for operational improvement.

To briefly explain:

Financial Accounting (FI in SAP ERP terminology)

This area focuses on:

• financial reporting
• journal entry processing
• tax reporting
• closing procedures
• and treasury management.

Essentially, it supports external financial reporting and compliance.

Management Accounting (CO in SAP ERP terminology)

This area focuses more on:

• internal cost management
• cost allocation
• and operational profitability analysis.

Companies using SAP ERP often rely heavily on:

• standard costing systems
• and internal cost structures,

which management accounting teams operate and maintain.

As for my consulting responsibilities specifically, I currently work on:

• financial closing process optimization
• treasury process improvement
• internal control system implementation
• standard cost design
• and cost structure improvement projects.

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4. What made you choose this profession?

After graduating from university in Korea, I worked in HR operations for about six years at Hyundai Motor Company and an LG-affiliated company.

Even during university, however, I had always been deeply interested in:

• finance
• and cost accounting.

I consistently wanted to move into accounting-related work.

Then one day, a close friend suggested:
“Why don’t you try becoming a CPA?”

That conversation became the turning point.

I began studying for the USCPA exam in May 2021 while continuing my full-time job.

After balancing both work and study for approximately 11 months, I passed all four sections with an average score of 91.

After passing the exam, I joined KPMG Korea and moved into financial and management accounting consulting work.

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5. What do you enjoy most about your current job?

Personally, I believe the two biggest advantages of my current profession are:

• meritocracy
• and work autonomy.

In many general corporations, promotions tend to follow:

• predefined timelines
• and fixed hierarchical structures.

Accounting firms also have promotion standards, of course.

However, if someone demonstrates:

• strong performance
• or high contribution to the firm,

career advancement can happen much faster.

I personally benefited from that system.

At our firm, promotion to Manager typically requires around three years of service.

Fortunately, I was promoted after only two years.

Regarding autonomy:
our division operates with a strong results-oriented culture.

As long as you complete your assigned work by the deadline, there is significant flexibility.

Sometimes:

• you can leave early
• work independently
• or even skip unnecessary office attendance altogether 🙂

Compared to more traditional corporate environments, I personally find that flexibility very attractive.

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6. What do you think are your strengths in this profession?

I think my greatest strengths are:

• foreign language ability
• and persistence.

Currently, I can speak:

• Korean
• English
• Russian
• and Uzbek fluently.

Language ability becomes extremely useful:

• when communicating with clients
• reviewing documents
• or handling international projects.

Another important strength is persistence.

In consulting work, there are many situations where:

• I initially do not fully understand a process
• or the work becomes extremely difficult.

But I’ve realized that if I continue pushing through persistently, good results eventually appear.

Of course… after projects end, I sometimes spend several days sleeping at home from exhaustion 😂

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7. How did you prepare for this career?

If someone wants to perform:

• financial consulting
• or management accounting advisory work

inside an accounting firm, having a CPA qualification such as the USCPA is extremely important.

Of course, professionals with corporate finance experience can also enter consulting roles.

However, holding a CPA license definitely helps when:

• understanding broader accounting structures
• and performing operational consulting work.

Personally, I believe people without sufficient accounting framework knowledge may struggle to see the “big picture” during consulting engagements.

Another thing I strongly recommend is:
exercise 🙂

Working at an accounting firm requires tremendous physical stamina.

No matter how stressful projects become, consistent exercise helps:

• relieve stress
• improve endurance
• and ultimately improve work performance as well.

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8. If you could return to freshman year of university, would you choose the same career again?

Yes, absolutely.

If I could go back to freshman year, I would probably begin preparing for the USCPA at a much younger age and start my career directly inside an accounting firm.

I do not regret my previous corporate experience or the years I spent there.

However, I do think I could have entered a profession more aligned with my personality earlier.

I enjoy:

• numbers
• performance-driven environments
• and measurable achievement.

So even if I restarted life from the beginning, I believe I would still choose this profession again.

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9. What direction do you envision for your future career?

If someone obtains the USCPA license, I strongly recommend experiencing work inside an accounting firm at least once.

When I was studying for the exam, I often wondered:
“Why am I learning all of this?”

But once I actually entered practice, many of those questions naturally disappeared.

Because I had already studied:

• accounting theory
• finance
• and business structures,

I was able to adapt quickly and benefit greatly from that knowledge in real consulting work.

Accounting firms also provide opportunities to experience many practical applications of the theories learned during the USCPA journey.

So my recommendation is:
join an accounting firm first, gain diverse experiences, and then gradually discover which field fits you best.

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10. What would you like to say to students considering this profession?

First, I would encourage students to seriously think about:

• what they are truly good at
• and what they genuinely enjoy.

In reality, it is surprisingly rare for:
“what you love”
and
“what you are good at”
to perfectly overlap.

Social media often tells people:
“Follow what you love.”

But personally, I would recommend:
doing what you are genuinely good at.

When you excel at something:

• confidence grows
• satisfaction increases
• and self-belief becomes stronger.

To be honest, I would not necessarily say my current work is something I “love.”

But I do believe it is something I am genuinely good at.

Finally, I hope students can move forward with confidence and enjoy the present moment.

Job preparation periods can feel:

• stressful
• uncertain
• and overwhelming.

But these moments will eventually pass.

If you continue working hard consistently, difficult periods naturally become part of your growth story.

So rather than shrinking back in fear, I hope you can approach the future with confidence 🙂

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That concludes the interview with a USCPA consultant from KPMG Korea’s CS Division 🙂

Personally, I had always wondered what kind of practical work USCPAs actually perform after obtaining the license.

So it was fascinating to hear about:

• process innovation
• ERP consulting
• management accounting consulting
• and SAP implementation projects.

Once again, thank you sincerely to the interviewee for taking the time to participate in this interview despite an incredibly busy schedule.

I’ll return again soon with the next “10 Questions by Profession” series 🙂