Japan CPA exam passers up for 4th Year

November 15, 2019

Tokyo--The number of people who passed the certified public accountant examination in Japan this year rose 2.5 pct from the previous year to 1,337, up for the fourth consecutive year, the testing agency said Friday.

Of all passers, women accounted for a record high of 23.6 pct, up 3.2 percentage points, according to the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board.

The overall pass rate fell 0.4 point to 10.7 pct.

The need for certified public accountants has been rising and their roles are increasingly important, as auditing standards for corporate earnings were tightened after accounting fraud at companies, such as Toshiba Corp. <6502>, came to light.

"There had been a severe shortage of certified public accountants for a time, leading companies to fight for exam passers," Takayuki Matsui, a CPAAOB commissioner, said. "The competition has now somewhat eased thanks to an increase in exam passers," he added. Jiji Press