Overview
The CPA Examination (공인회계사 시험) is South Korea's national exam for becoming a Certified Public Accountant. The Financial Supervisory Service runs it through its own exam site, which is in Korean. It has two stages: a multiple-choice first exam and a written-answer second exam. Passing the second exam earns a pass certificate that the Financial Services Commission issues and the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants hands out.
Who can apply
Everyone must meet a credit requirement. Under the rule for credit claims filed from 1 January 2025, you need university-level credits (or credits recognised through the lifelong-education credit bank) in:
accounting and tax subjects: at least 12 credits
business administration: at least 6 credits
economics: at least 3 credits
information technology: at least 3 credits
The exam site checks your subjects against its own list of recognised courses, and credits from certificates do not count. You must have the credit claim accepted before you can register for the first exam.
For the first exam you must also hold an accepted English test score before exam day (see the English test section below). For the second exam you must have passed the first exam in the same year or the year before, or be a person with qualifying career experience who is exempt from the first exam.
Exam pattern
First exam (1차)
A multiple-choice written exam. In 2026 it was held in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon.
| Session | Subject | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (100 minutes) | Business administration | 32 | 80 |
| 1 (100 minutes) | Economics | 32 | 80 |
| 2 (120 minutes) | Corporate law | 40 | 100 |
| 2 (120 minutes) | Introduction to tax law | 40 | 100 |
| 3 (90 minutes) | Accounting | 50 | 150 |
English is not sat as a paper. It is replaced by a score from an approved English test.
Second exam (2차)
A written-answer exam held in Seoul over two days. Ethics-related questions make up about 10 percent of the auditing paper.
| Day | Session | Subject | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 (120 minutes) | Tax law | 100 |
| 1 | 2 (120 minutes) | Financial management | 100 |
| 1 | 3 (120 minutes) | Auditing | 100 |
| 2 | 1 (120 minutes) | Cost and management accounting | 100 |
| 2 | 2 (120 minutes) | Financial accounting I (intermediate) | 100 |
| 2 | 3 (60 minutes) | Financial accounting II (advanced) | 50 |
English test substitution
A score from one of six approved tests replaces the English paper. The English score only decides whether you meet the English requirement. It is not added to your first exam total. The minimum scores for ordinary candidates are:
| Test | Minimum score |
|---|---|
| TOEFL iBT | 71 |
| TOEIC | 700 |
| TEPS | 340 |
| G-TELP | Level 2, 65 |
| FLEX | 625 |
| IELTS | 4.5 |
Lower thresholds apply to candidates with a hearing impairment. A score counts if the test was taken in the five years before the first exam, but TOEIC, TEPS and G-TELP scores should be claimed on the exam site before the testing body's two-year validity runs out, because the site checks them with the testing body. Scores from tests with no online verification, such as TOEFL, FLEX and IELTS, can be claimed only from the 1st to the 10th of a month.
Marking and results
First exam: you need at least 40 percent of the marks in every subject (English excluded) and at least 60 percent of the total, which is 330 points. Passers are then chosen from those candidates in order of total score, up to the planned number. Failing any one subject means you cannot pass.
Second exam: you pass if you score at least 60 percent in every subject. If that gives fewer passers than the minimum number the Financial Services Commission announced, more candidates are added in order of total score from those who reached 40 percent in every subject.
Partial pass: if you passed the first exam, or were exempt, and then scored at least 60 percent in some second-exam subjects in the same year, you are exempt from those subjects in the following year's second exam only. A first-exam pass also lets you sit the second exam in the next year.
Exemption from the first exam
People with enough relevant career experience can skip the first exam. Examples listed on the site include civil servants at grade 5 or above with three years of accounting, audit or direct-tax work, associate professors or above who taught accounting for three years, and bank or listed-company staff with five years of financial-statement work. Exemption requests need career certificates and are decided by a committee.
Important dates
For the 61st exam in 2026:
First exam: 2 March 2026. Applications ran from 8 to 20 January 2026. Results were announced on 31 March 2026.
Second exam: 27 and 28 June 2026. Applications ran from 7 to 19 May 2026. Results were announced on 1 September 2026.
Credit claims: from 7 September 2026 to 8 January 2027 for the next cycle. Subject recognition requests run from 7 September to 6 November 2026.
In a normal year, the exam calendar on the site shows the first exam in late February or early March and the second in late June.
How to apply
Register on the exam site, claim your credits (and an English score if you have one), then apply for each exam during its application window. The site publishes the schedule for documents, applications and admission-ticket printing each year.
Preparation tips
Sort out the credit claim and English score early, because the windows are fixed and you cannot register for the first exam without an accepted credit claim.
Plan around the 40 percent minimum in each subject. A weak subject can fail you even with a high total.
Use the partial pass system: scoring 60 percent in some second-exam subjects keeps them for the next year.
FAQs
Is there an English test requirement?
Yes. You need a qualifying score from TOEFL, TOEIC, TEPS, G-TELP, FLEX or IELTS before the first exam. The score is a pass or fail requirement and is not part of your total.
How many stages does the exam have?
Two. The first exam is multiple choice and the second is written answers. In 2026 they were held in March and June.
Can I keep my second-exam subject passes?
Yes, in part. If you pass some subjects at 60 percent or more in the year you pass the first exam, you do not need to retake them in the following year's second exam.