국제회계기준 도입에 따른 유형자산 평가주체에 관한 법적 고찰

As a consequence of the Enron scandal in the early 2000s, the U.S. accounting standards lost its credibility in the international setting and the European-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) quickly became the "global standard". Today, about 110 countries have adopted and utilize the IFRS. Since 2010, the Korean government passed legislation requiring companies with assets worth 2 trillion won or more to use the K-IFRS and has gradually expanded the scope of such requirement. With the implementation of the IFRS, when preparing financial statements, the value of assets owned by a company may be appraised with the fair value of the assets instead of the actual purchase price, as it was applied in the previous K-GAAP. Such appraisal method causes the asset value of a company to significantly increase when appraising tangible fixed assets such as land and buildings based upon their fair value. According to the K-IFRS, the appraisal of tangible fixed assets of a company can only be performed by professionally qualified valuers. However, the appraisal industry and the accounting industry have been engaged in legal disputes regarding the interpretation of "professionally qualified valuers". The appraisal industry is claiming that the appraisal of tangible fixed assets such as land have traditionally been the core business of certified public appraisers. On the other hand, pursuant to Article 2, Subparagraph 1 of the Certified Public Accountant Act, which states "appraisals relating to accounting" as a duty of certified public accountants, it has been counter-argued that certified public accountants may also perform the appraisal of tangible fixed assets. The Korean court of first instance held that, under the Korean laws which specially provides for the establishment of appraisal businesses, it is reasonable to limit the scope of "professionally qualified valuers" under the K-IFRS to certified public appraisers. On the other hand, in concurrence with the trial court's decision, while the appeal court found that the appraisal by certified public accountants are subject to punishment under the Public Notice of Values and Appraisal of Real Estate Act, it held that an appraisal for accounting purposes pursuant to the implementation of the K-IFRS constitutes an "appraisal relating to accounting" as permitted under the Certified Public Accountant Act. Such conflict and discord between the two acts can be viewed as the result of fully implementing the IFRS without conducting sufficient discussions unlike the case in Japan. Therefore, this study examines the legal implications of the issues surrounding the appraiser of tangible fixed assets pursuant to the implementation of IFRS based on existing decisions ordered by the trial court and appeals court.