Financial Services Commission Chairperson Lee Eog-weon said the commission will actively pursue enactment of a Basic Accounting Act to strengthen accounting transparency across South Korea, including the nonprofit sector outside the External Audit Act. The legislation would consolidate accounting rules currently spread across the External Audit Act, the Public Institution Operation Act, the Private School Act and other statutes, covering companies, public institutions and school corporations. Draft bills proposed by lawmakers Park Chan-dae and Choi Eun-seok are pending before the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee. Lee said South Korea ranked 55th in this year’s International Institute for Management Development world competitiveness ranking for accounting, underscoring the need for qualitative improvements beyond formal institutional design. The commission plans a strict but predictable supervision and sanction framework, expanded monitoring through a whistleblower reward system without an upper limit, and stronger inspections of companies facing declining audit quality or concerns over substandard audits. Existing review plans target companies at high risk of inadequate audits, including those with sharply reduced audit hours, with broader reviews planned next year. Authorities also intend to improve training conditions for young accountants who pass the qualification exam but cannot secure training placements. The commission is reviewing next year’s minimum number of certified public accountants, considering industry labor demand, artificial intelligence’s impact and predictability for examinees; the final figure is due from the Certified Public Accountant Qualification and Disciplinary Committee at the end of November. At a prior meeting, Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants President Choi Woon-youl and leaders of KPMG Samjong, Deloitte Anjin, Samil PwC and EY Hanyoung discussed staffing and AI, with Choi saying accounting reforms had created little additional demand for personnel and urging consideration of AI’s substitution effect. A total of 145 people received awards and commendations at the Accounting Day ceremony.