배당승인주체 변경 효과에 대한 연구

According to the amendment to the Commercial Act in 2011, the company can change the party for approval of financial statements and dividend decision from the existing general meeting of shareholders to the board of directors by changing the articles of incorporation. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the change in the party for approval of company’s dividends. The results of analysis are as follows. First, differences in the level of dividends between companies of which the dividends were approved by the general meeting of shareholders and companies of which the dividends were determined by the board of directors among companies that introduced the relevant regulation into their articles of incorporation were analyzed. As a result, the level of dividends was shown to be higher among companies of which the dividends were determined by the board of directors compared to companies of which the dividends were approved by the general meeting of shareholders. That is, the high level of dividends among companies of which the dividends were determined by the board of directors does not unconditionally lead to the conclusion that shareholder rights were violated because when dividends are determined by the board of directors, the decision can be made faster compared to when dividends are determined by the general meeting of shareholders so that management autonomy is expanded. Second, corporate values were compared between companies of which the dividends were approved by the general meeting of shareholders and companies of which the dividends were determined by the board of directors among companies that introduced the relevant regulation into their articles of incorporation, and as a result, companies of which the dividends were determined by the board of directors showed significant positive (+) values in the correlation with corporate values. This is thought to be a result that can dispel some concerns about the authority to make dividends, and it can be a market assessment of company management because dividend decisions and judgment in relation to investment opportunities and financing policies are included in the scope of company management. In addition, it was analyzed whether the market recognizes changes in companies of which the dividends were approved by the general meeting of shareholders into those of which the dividends are determined by the board of directors changes and evaluates the companies differently but no statistically significant result could be found. The contributions of this study are as follows. First, in the case of companies, this study can be a reference in the case of companies considering that the market evaluation of the introduction of relevant regulation is not negative. Second, stakeholders (investors) may recognize that in case where dividends are determined by the board of directors according to the regulation in companies that introduced the relevant regulation, the level of dividends may be shown to be high and use it as investment information, Third, in the case of related authorities, the effectiveness of the regulation can be examined based on the results of this study.