Sam-il PwC "Sustainability Management and Governance Improvement Must Be Led by the Board of Directors"

Governance Center Seminar
'Asking the Board's Path in an Era of Change'
Over 120 Corporate Officials Attended

There has been a call for domestic boards of directors to take a more proactive role as the central axis of sustainable management and governance improvement.

On the 23rd, a seminar titled "In an Era of Change, Asking the Path of the Board of Directors" was held in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where Ogwon Oh, Head of the Audit Division at PwC, delivered the opening remarks.
[Photo by Samil PwC]

On the 24th, the Samil PwC Governance Center announced that it held a seminar titled "Asking the Way of the Board of Directors in an Era of Change" the previous day at the JW Marriott Seoul in Seocho-gu, Seoul. About 120 corporate officials, including audit committee members and outside directors of listed companies, attended the seminar.

In his opening remarks, Ki-won Oh, Head of the Audit Division at Samil PwC, said, "With the government recently introducing the Value-Up program and increasing interest in corporate governance, expectations for the leading role of outside directors and audit committee members have grown," adding, "I hope this seminar will serve as an opportunity to set the role and direction of the board of directors considering the changed environment and the unique characteristics of Korean companies."

The first session was led by Jong-dae Kim, Professor Emeritus at Inha University, who spoke on "Understanding Stakeholder Capitalism and Board Responses from an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Perspective." He stated, "The board of directors should also play a role in monitoring and controlling companies to contribute to creating social value, including shareholder value." He emphasized the role of the board in sustainable management and enhancing corporate value through the concept of stakeholder capitalism, a core idea of sustainable management. Stakeholder capitalism means creating value for all stakeholders, including shareholders, unlike the traditional shareholder-centered market capitalism.

The second session featured Kyung-seo Park, Professor at Korea University, who lectured on "What Are the Problems and Improvement Tasks of Korean Corporate Boards?" Analyzing the current status and issues of Korean corporate boards from the perspectives of board independence, expertise, and operation, Professor Park pointed out, "Domestic boards have played a certain role in monitoring management, but corporate governance rankings remain in the lower-middle tier among Asian countries, which is a major cause of the Korea discount," and added, "When there is a controlling shareholder, the board's function becomes formalized."

During the Q&A session, when asked about "what outside directors should pay attention to beyond board agendas," Professor Park advised, "It is necessary to check long-term corporate management strategies, research and development plans, regulatory and management risks that are not on the board agenda, and from a financial perspective, to closely monitor debt and liquidity ratios." Additionally, Myung-hyun Cho, Professor at Korea University, added, "The inspection of internal control systems, internal accounting management systems, and the company's risk management systems by outside directors has also been emphasized in recent Supreme Court rulings."

Jang On-gyun, Director of the Governance Center, which hosted the seminar, said, "Starting with this seminar discussing the establishment of Korean-style governance in a changing environment, we will continue to discuss ways to strengthen the capabilities of boards of directors and audit committees."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.