개정 외부감사법의 평가와 과제 - 상장회사를 중심으로 -

Abstract

ACT ON EXTERNAL AUDIT OF STOCK COMPANIES, which is amended by Act No. 15022, Oct. 31, 2017, is regarded as the New Accounting Reform ACT compared to the old External Audit Act. This New External Audit Act, from the perspective of listed companies, includes the external auditor's audit of internal accounting management system of the listed company, granting the audit committee's authority to select an external auditor, shortening the term of appointment of the external auditor, the audit committeeʼs independent investigation of the management's misconduct, periodic external auditor designation system, auditor registration system for listed companies, standard audit time, activation of whistleblowers, introduction of penalty surcharges for fraudulent accounting, and strengthening criminal penalties. The New External Audit Act requires companies to improve their accounting capabilities and build internal accounting control system effectively, and external auditors to prevent companies from committing accounting fraud through independent external audit. This leads to increase corporate accounting transparency and enhance national competitiveness. However, imposing penalty surcharges and criminal penalties should be operated legally and reasonably. In order for the New External Audit Act to lead to effective accounting reform in the future, companies should understand the internal accounting control system, and the audit committee should have the independence and professionality. Futhermore, external auditors also should have the independence and improve the audit quality, and the Accounting Supervision Authority should impose rational supervising measures to improve the credibility of financial statements and audit reports. In addition, the judicial authorities also should exercise their law enforcement prudently. Lastly, it need to change the perception of accounting transparencyʼs importance in companies, auditors and authorities, and spread out this perception over the society.