| 摘要: | 公司治理，在全球已經不是什麼新鮮的詞彙，甚至已經變成陳腔濫調了，每當有公司發生掏空案、違法交易案等等弊案時，總是會提到公司治理這一個名詞。自西元1990年代的金融危機發生以來，全世界國家莫不積極完善其自身國家的公司治理制度，OECD甚至也頒佈了有關公司治理的幾項原則，希望透過完整、良善的公司治理制度使得金融秩序能步上正軌，促進整體金融市場的蓬勃發展，而我國也不例外。
我國在西元2000年代也爆發了許多重大金融案件，而為了要改善我國的公司治理制度，西元2006年我國即引進獨立董事制度，在這段期間我國主管機關不斷擴大獨立董事的適用，希望能藉由獨立董事的獨立性與專業性來解決過往監察人制度成效不彰的問題，然近10幾年來我國公司的弊案也不曾因此而絕跡，更有許多的弊案是與獨立董事切身相關的，舉凡永豐、樂陞等等。在這期間獨立董事也有許多爭議招致各界批評，例如：獨立董事獨立性不足、怠於執行監督公司、介入公司經營、責任過重、薪酬過低、人數不足等等，這許多的問題造成獨立董事仍然脫離不了監察人的影子，更有因獨立董事未能公正、獨立、積極地執行監督權致多數投資人的財產損失。
獨立董事係自美國引進的制度，在美國已行之有年，美國自安隆(Enron)弊案爆發以來即推出沙氏法案來加強公司治理，其許多針對獨立董事、審計委員會的改正措施使得公司治理有著正向的發展，而各國的公司治理模式會隨著當地的政治、經濟、社會、民情而有所異同，當我國試著引進這套美國的制度時，能否與我國既有的公司治理制度做結合是相當重要的，避免只引進這套制度的形式卻沒有把精神帶進來。
時至今日，我國仍有許多針對獨立董事、審計委員會的學者文章被撰寫，其中多為希望這套制度能更加完善，當然也有論者希望能揚棄獨立董事制度稍加修訂監察人條文即可，然無論如何，現代公司治理的潮流就是以獨立董事做為核心，那既然如此本文希望能參考美國立法例對比我國獨立董事制度，找出其中的缺點來使這套制度能夠更加完善，使得公司治理在我國能夠更加進步。
Corporate Governance is something that we often hear. Whenever there are companies going bankrupt or being engaged in illegal transactions, etc., the term corporate governance is always being mentioned. Since the financial crisis of the 1990s, countries around the world have been actively improving their corporate governance system. The OECD has even promulgated several principles related to corporate governance, hoping to put the financial system on track and allow the overall financial market to flourish through a complete and fine corporate governance system, and Taiwan is no exception.
Many significant financial cases happened in our country during the year 2000. In order to improve the corporate governance system of Taiwan, our country introduced the independent director system in 2006. The governance authorities continued to expand the functions of an independent director during this period, hoping to solve the problem of an ineffective supervisory system in the past with the independence and professionalism of an independent director. However, company malpractice cases in Taiwan in these decades have not decreased. Even more of them are associated with their independent directors, such as the SinoPac case, the XPEC Entertainment case, etc. Many disputes arose from the independent director system and it has been gravely criticized during this period. For example, the lack of independency of the independent director, the failure to exercise supervision of the company, the independent director intervening with the operations of the company, being underpaid, insufficient manpower, etc. Many of these problems have caused independent directors to remain in the shadow of the supervisory system. Furthermore, there are many investors who suffered property losses due to the failure of independent directors to exercise their supervisory power in a fair, independent and active manner.
The independent director system was adapted from the United States (hereinafter referred to simply as the “U.S.”) and has been ongoing for several years in the U.S. Since the outbreak of the Enron case, the U.S. has introduced the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to strengthen corporate governance. Many of its improvement measures for independent directors and audit committees have led to positive developments in corporate governance. The corporate governance model of each country will be different because of the local politics, economy, society, and people. Whether this American system can be integrated with Taiwan’s existing corporate governance system is crucial, in order to avoid bringing in a system with only form but without the spirit.
Nowadays, many scholarly articles regarding independent directors or audit committees are being written, mostly wishing to refine the system, and of course some of them are hoping to discard the independent director system with minor amendments to the supervisory system. However, having an independent director is still the core of the trend of modern corporate governance. This thesis wishes to compare this independent director system in our country versus that of the U.S. legislation, and explores the shortcomings in order to refine the system and achieve progress in Taiwan’s corporate governance. |
