If a Japanese citizen wanted a career in Japan as a certified accountant, which would be better? Are job opportunities slightly different depending on which license you get? Degree isn’t in accounting.
Depends on if you want to work at a gaishikei or Nikkei company. I have met many great USCPA holders but my impression is there is only a very small number of fully bilingual JCPA holders out there. And even if they are bilingual, most of them don’t have the best social and communication skills. Technically they are amazing but they can’t communicate. Generally, a JCPA is seen as better than a USCPA.
Side note: I have recruited bilingual mid career accounting and professionals in Tokyo for about 5 years.
The JCPA test is definitely harder than the USCPA test. It’s somewhat like comparing apples to oranges so don’t be too discouraged by the huge disparity in passing rates if you’re leaning towards JCPA, but for a number of reasons most agree that the JCPA license is harder.
Career-wise I would say there’s not much difference in terms of opportunities. You can even become partner of an audit firm without being a JCPA (they revised the law in 2007 specifically to allow this), but you just can’t be a signer on listed clients. Most CFOs aren’t CPAs to begin with, so having either license will already give you options.
Long-term, you can always get both. I know about a dozen who have both so it’s not that unheard of.
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Depends on if you want to work at a gaishikei or Nikkei company. I have met many great USCPA holders but my impression is there is only a very small number of fully bilingual JCPA holders out there. And even if they are bilingual, most of them don’t have the best social and communication skills. Technically they are amazing but they can’t communicate.
Generally, a JCPA is seen as better than a USCPA.
Side note: I have recruited bilingual mid career accounting and professionals in Tokyo for about 5 years.
The JCPA test is definitely harder than the USCPA test. It’s somewhat like comparing apples to oranges so don’t be too discouraged by the huge disparity in passing rates if you’re leaning towards JCPA, but for a number of reasons most agree that the JCPA license is harder.
Career-wise I would say there’s not much difference in terms of opportunities. You can even become partner of an audit firm without being a JCPA (they revised the law in 2007 specifically to allow this), but you just can’t be a signer on listed clients. Most CFOs aren’t CPAs to begin with, so having either license will already give you options.
Long-term, you can always get both. I know about a dozen who have both so it’s not that unheard of.