지방공기업의 지배구조 개선에 대한 소고 -감사제도를 중심으로-

As the local autonomy system becomes more active, each local government has established local public enterprises to respond to the diverse needs of residents, and various problems such as over-establishment and inefficiency of local public enterprises have been raised. This study suggests that the structural problem is that local public enterprises’ debts are increasing and operational irregularities are not ceasing despite efforts to establish and revise operating standards for local public enterprises and local public enterprises’ own self-regulation efforts. Therefore, this article specifically examines related laws such as the Commercial Act and the Local Public Enterprise Act, and confirms the actual conditions of some local public enterprises. In particular, the characteristics of the governance structure of local public enterprises centered on the audit system are analyzed and problems in the external and internal governance structures are examined. Through this, the aim is to derive the problems in the current system related to the governance structure of local public enterprises and propose improvement measures. As a result, this article suggests the following improvement measures. First, if the asset size of a local public enterprise is 2 trillion won or more, an audit committee consisting of at least three auditors must be established. At this time, the audit committee can be established by introducing a system of committees within the board of directors, similar to the system of committees within the board of directors under the Commercial Act, or if the current board of directors system is maintained, the so-called joint audit system can be introduced and operated. Of course, at this time, more than two-thirds of the audit committee must be appointed as external members with guaranteed independence. This is a concept corresponding to outside directors under the Commercial Act. Second, in cases where the asset size is 100 billion won or more but less than 2 trillion won, it is mandatory to have a standing auditor or an audit committee. In other words, it is applicable to cases where a standing auditor or an audit committee can be established, similar to the case of listed companies with 100 billion won or more under the Commercial Act. Third, in cases where the asset size is less than 100 billion won, a non-standing auditor is appointed. In this case, more specific procedures for the appointment and dismissal of auditors should be established, considering the independence and expertise of the auditors. Currently, the head of the local government appoints and dismisses them, but this will be revised so that the head of the local government appoints and dismisses them upon recommendation by the local council. Of course, in this case, it is desirable to delete the current regulation that local government officials hold concurrent positions. Lastly, the audit organization is the last bastion that can prevent fraudulent accounting and illegal activities in advance as a supervisory agency for management. Therefore, if the auditors and audit committee members can exercise the personnel authority over the staff of the audit department that performs the role of auditing within local public enterprises and secure their expertise, it is expected that there will be sufficient positive defense of the function and role of auditing even in the current system. Through this study, it is expected that the shortcomings of the local public enterprise audit system will be supplemented, and at the same time, local public enterprises will be operated efficiently in the future, and the public interest of local public enterprises returning the profits created through their business to the local community will be further strengthened.