EY Korea Seminar Urges Stronger Corporate Governance

EY Korea said on the 7th that it held its seventh accounting transparency seminar at the FKI Tower Conference Center in Yeouido under the theme "A New Risk Environment and the Future of Governance."

The seminar covered key accounting and internal accounting control issues that companies should watch in an era of compound risk, along with ways to respond to sustainability disclosure requirements. Speakers included Lee Jung-chan, a deputy director at the Financial Services Commission; Lee Jae-hoon, head of the Financial Supervisory Service's accounting review department; Yang Joon-kwon, head of quality control at EY Korea; and Chae Soo-wan, a partner in EY Korea's consulting division.

In a session on policy directions for improving accounting transparency, Lee of the FSC reviewed recent changes in the environment surrounding financial audits. In the following session, Lee of the FSS urged companies and management, as the parties responsible for preparing financial statements, to build and operate effective internal controls, prepare and disclose financial statements responsibly, communicate transparently with stakeholders and act preemptively to prevent accounting fraud.

EY Korea presented an analysis of how major changes, including the revised Commercial Act, affect financial reporting and year-end closing, together with measures to address accounting issues. Yang said sustainability disclosure goes beyond regulatory compliance and is a matter of the reliability of information that investors and the market demand. Chae said the role of audit committees is expanding from after-the-fact reviews to company-wide risk oversight based on continuous monitoring.

Park Yong-keun, chief executive of EY Korea, said risks facing companies have grown more complex because of the revised Commercial Act and the spread of artificial intelligence, making the roles of management, boards and audit committees more important.