금융위기 이후의 한국회계제도 개혁의 현황 및 성과진단

Abstract

The December 1997 financial crisis in Korea triggered an accounting reform on an

unprecedented scale. The reform process that followed the crisis placed a top priority on

restructuring the accounting system including the revision of corporate accounting standards,

changes in accounting standards setting procedure, revision of regulatory stipulations among

others. However, a countrys accounting practice is a product of a natural, evolutionary

process whereby business practice and societal demands interact. To that extent, there is a

limit to the reform of the Korean accounting system. As some critics argue, demanding

transparency from accounting sector alone would be meaningless unless the entire society is

made transparent. Whether the reform has brought about more than cosmetic changes thus

remains questionable. I ran questionnaires among a group of CPAs to see whether the reform

of accounting practice for the past three years have had any tangible effect. According to the

views of the Korean accounting practitioners, the accounting practice in Korea has not

improved significantly despite the reform efforts over the past three years. Rather, there is a

tendency for regressing back to the past practice, presumably because lots of structural

problems still remain at large. Even though it is still too early to conclude whether the reform

was a success or a failure, the evaluation based on the survey clearly shows that a system reform (hardware) not accompanied by subsequent changes in paradigm (software) is only

fragile and that the improvements in practice could have a long way to go.