교비회계자금 유용에 대한 형사책임 - 대법원 2012. 5. 10. 선고 2011도12408 판결 -

Fraud and embezzlement are pervasive problems in the educational establishment in Seoul, Korea. Students and their parents are exposed to risks of embezzlement by business leaders and managers. For example, a manager of a school might withdraw funds from a school’s account, hoping to repay the embezzled funds in the future. Conflicts arise when people (the agents) entrusted to look after the interests of others (the principals) use their authority and power for their own benefit instead. In one signature case examined in this paper, a school official misappropriated millions of dollars from school accounts for home remodeling work done while superintendent, creating fraudulent paperwork and submitting false invoices that described the work as being performed at the district’s schools. The official betrayed the public’s trust. Even though full restitution was made, the damage was done. Although not normally viewed in this light, superintendents actually manage a large corporation with significant financial responsibilities in functional areas such as instruction (teacher salaries, textbooks, etc.), support services (school maintenance, nurses, administration, library, etc.), and other non-instructional services (food service, bookstore, etc.). For this reason, top educational officials, such as school superintendents, should be held to the same high level of accounting and ethical standards as are top officials of large corporations. Specifically, superintendents should be held accountable when moving money in and out of accounts and there should be guidelines to follow to avoid inappropriate financial transfers. Superintendents and other school officials need to be extremely conscientious, have high ethics, and put into place a policy of checks and balances that monitor withdrawal of funds so that it makes embezzlement and misappropriation of funds difficult to achieve.