Global Boom in CPA Demand Reaches Japan
Tokyo's Chuo University launched the Chuo Graduate School of Accounting in April, and Kwansei Gakuin University in Hyogo Prefecture intends to set up its own accounting school in April 2005. Meiji University in Tokyo and Kansai University in Osaka Prefecture will also set up CPA schools, and Tokyo's Aoyama Gakuin University is considering the possibility. The institutions are anticipating a Financial Services Agency plan to increase the number of CPAs to 50,000, in an effort to fall into line with global expectations for corporate transparency. With only 14,000 CPAs, Japan lags far behind the United States, which has 330,000.