Seohyun Academic Foundation held the "3rd Seohyun Academic Awards ceremony" on the 16th.
The Seohyun Academic Awards were established in 2022 to discover outstanding research in the tax and accounting fields and support the academic activities of next-generation scholars.
This year's grand prize went to the joint study by Hanyang University professors Jeong Tae-jin and Na Hyeon-jong, "The effect of controlling shareholders' inheritance and gift tax burdens on corporations' dividend policies."
The study received high marks as an international work that empirically identified the channels through which controlling shareholders' tax burdens are transmitted to corporations' financial policies, investment, employment, and market value by leveraging the unique institutional environment of Korea's inheritance and gift tax. It was also selected for the grand prize for empirically analyzing how controlling shareholders' inheritance and gift tax burdens affect corporations' dividends and investment decisions, while presenting originality and policy implications.
Two excellence awards were chosen, one each in taxation and accounting. In taxation, the paper by Seoul National University School of Law professor Kim Beom-jun, "Limits and tasks of the doctrine on substantive disposition of profits – improvement measures for consistency among the Commercial Act, accounting standards, and tax law," was selected.
The study noted that the Supreme Court's doctrine on substantive disposition of profits does not align with the Commercial Act and accounting standards, causing confusion in practice, and proposed directions for improving tax law based on precedents and overseas cases. In particular, it was highly evaluated for its academic contribution in clearly analyzing conflicts among norms and for its logical completeness.
The accounting excellence award went to the joint research paper by Korea George Mason University professors Jo Eun-hye and Lee Jeong-hwa and University of Auckland professor Tom Scott, "Are auditor–audit committee communications associated with stock price crash risk?"
The study empirically demonstrated what effects the auditor–audit committee communication format and key content, which exist only in Korea, actually have, and confirmed that written reports are more effective, recognizing its academic significance for providing important grounds for future auditing standards and regulatory improvements.
An Man-sik, chair of the board of Seohyun Academic Foundation, said, "The Seohyun Academic Awards support emerging researchers who will lead the future of tax and accounting to showcase their capabilities and are fulfilling the social responsibility of the knowledge service sector," and added, "We will continue to contribute to the development of the tax and accounting industry, the formation of a healthy capital market, and the sustainable growth of the corporate ecosystem through support for academic research."
Seohyun Academic Foundation is the first academic foundation of a tax and accounting firm organized in 2022 through voluntary grants from its executives and employees.
A Seohyun Academic Foundation official said, "Through the Seohyun Academic Awards, we plan to steadily support academic promotion and research and development activities in the tax and accounting fields."