IP & Art

We hear the news of domestic commercial banks' overseas expansion. However, the competitiveness of Korea's financial industry is still low compared to its status as one of the world's 10 largest economies. Why?

First, I would like to point out a kind of cartel phenomenon among financial elites. Retirees from financial supervisory authorities make up a significant portion of the executives and employees of major financial institutions, forming a closed ‘league of their own’. In addition, even politicians can take up executive positions in public financial corporations or important financial institutions by parachuting.

The lack of professionalism in audits is also an obstacle to the Korean wave of finance. For a while, I served as a standing auditor of a public financial company. In fact, the position of an auditor in a public financial corporation is the second-largest position after the president. There is no special burden of work, but the treatment is almost equal to that of the boss. It can be seen as a perfect place to spend comfortably for politicians without professionalism.

However, the role of auditor is not simple or it will not be appropriate to stay away just in a back room where you can just have fun. This is a great place to discover corruption among executives and employees, improve work appropriateness and work environment, prevent human rights violations, and take care of welfare. It is close to a kind of control tower where you can see the overall work through regular audits, occasional audits, and daily audits. If you want, you can give the boss unnecessary brakes (?) as much as you want.

The professionalism of auditors is an issue that needs to be resolved promptly along with the financial elite cartel problem in the financial sector. The reason why public financial corporations did not establish a rational governance structure is closely related to the fact that the audit system was not properly established. If you look into it, this is because the appointment of auditors is done by parachute and the like.

Above all, the auditor must have the expertise to check the tyrannical performance of executive officers. That means no one should do it. In addition, it is a position that requires continuous practical education even if the person possesses the ability. In my experience, the current system for enhancing the professionalism of audits is insufficient. Although there are audit associations, there are few cases in which audit work manuals are properly established. Next, we will investigate the current status of public company audits and overall problems, and expect the appropriate process at the stage of the selection of right auditors, standardization of audit work, and continuous practical education and training.