개정상법상 배당가능이익 계산제도의 문제점과 개선방향

The study aims to review the problems and improvement of the calculation system of distributable income in the revised Commercial Act. In addition, we discussed the usefulness of current Statement of Appropriation of Retained Earnings and recommended new disclosure of distributable income information. By dint of both archival study and case study methodology the following results of research are excavated. First, distributable income should be calculated based upon cost method in which unrealized gains are deducted and unrealized losses are added back. Moreover, unrealized gains and losses already reflected in retained earnings should be kept intact. Second, even under the current system where the unrealized gains are only deducted, the scope of offset should be restricted to marketable securities and linked hedge transactions including derivative financial instruments. Moreover, the application guideline should be designated as aggregate basis of account title rather than individual basis of each item. Third, the current Statement of Appropriation of Retained Earnings in which expected dividends are only described and no distributable income is known, should be substituted by the Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity in the coming revision of the Decree of Commercial Act as well as the Accounting Standards for Small and Medium-sized Entities. Moreover, the details of distributable income should be separately contained in the Note to Financial Statements, while expected dividends should be treated as another agenda in the stockholders’ meeting. The contribution of the paper is to excavate real problems on the calculation scheme of distributable income via comprehensive calculation case approach and suggest its improvement rather beyond the legal and institutional approach.