How to become a Certified Public Accountant
Audits financial statements at the request of companies and other bodies and gives an opinion in an audit report on whether their accounts are kept properly.
Main tasks
- Checking accounting records such as ledgers and slips received from companies and confirming bank balances
- Guiding companies on preparing financial statements and handling accounts
- Writing audit reports giving an opinion on whether financial statements and other accounts have been prepared properly
- Guiding companies when their accounting is judged not to be fair
- Helping prepare and checking documents on internal controls
- Auditing IT controls and helping build governance
- Giving audit assurance on outsourced services
- Advising companies on building the management systems needed to list on the stock market
- Consulting on management, mainly from a financial point of view
- Consulting to help companies recover, such as planning restructures
- Helping companies list on overseas stock markets and prepare financial statements under overseas accounting standards
- Helping with negotiations with banks
- Carrying out valuations and financial due diligence for mergers and acquisitions
- Advising on how companies are run as an outside director or outside auditor
- Serving as an audit committee member or external auditor for local governments
- Registering as a tax accountant and advising and guiding on tax
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
To become a certified public accountant, you must pass the CPA exam, gain at least three years of experience such as assisting with audit work, earn the required credits in practical training (a specialist training programme), pass the final exam set by the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants and register on the roll. Many CPAs join audit firms, though some join ordinary companies to gain experience. Others go on to many kinds of work, such as leaving an audit firm to open their own practice, starting a business, or moving to a company to do consulting.
Ways in
- University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 85 universities in Japan
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 公認会計士. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥8,108,100 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥434,100, and the middle half earn ¥344,300 to ¥593,300 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Certified public accountants and tax accountants
- 0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz
Questions people ask
How do I become a Certified Public Accountant?
To become a certified public accountant, you must pass the CPA exam, gain at least three years of experience such as assisting with audit work, earn the required credits in practical training (a specialist training programme), pass the final exam set by the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants and register on the roll. Many CPAs join audit firms, though some join ordinary companies to gain experience. Others go on to many kinds of work, such as leaving an audit firm to open their own practice, starting a business, or moving to a company to do consulting.
How much does a Certified Public Accountant earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥8,108,100 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Certified public accountants and tax accountants, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become a Certified Public Accountant?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 93% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of a Certified Public Accountant?
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026