ESG 공시, 그린워싱에 대한 감사위원회의 역할

Prior research on the role and effects of audit committees has primarily focused on whether the establishment of audit committees can improve the quality of financial reporting disclosures, such as financial statements (Abbott et al. 2000; Bedard et al. 2004). However, as the scope of corporate disclosures has recently expanded from financial reporting to include non-financial information like ESG, the role of audit committees has also broadened. Therefore, this study examines how the establishment of audit committees and their characteristics, such as size, independence, activities, expertise, and the provision of audit committee-targeted education, affect ESG greenwashing. Using ESG disclosure scores from Bloomberg and ESG performance scores from the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability (KCGS), we sampled KOSPI companies for the period 2018-2020 to analyze the relationship between the establishment and characteristics of audit committees and greenwashing disclosures. The analysis found that in companies with audit committees, those with larger audit committees, higher independence, and greater activity, as well as those that provided targeted education for the audit committee, exhibited a significant reduction in greenwashing in ESG disclosures compared to those that did not. These results suggest that to effectively monitor ESG information disclosures, it is not only necessary to establish an audit committee but also to have a larger number of audit committee members, ensure the committee's independence, hold frequent meetings, and provide appropriate education targeted at the audit committee members. This allows for the early detection and control of issues in the ESG information disclosure process.