獨立董事制度改革：獨立董事之選任及薪酬設計

Abstract

獨立董事制度在我國施行至今已10多年，然而，近幾年來，國內仍有許多設有獨立董事的知名上市(櫃)公司爆發經營弊端，每當弊端發生後，均使得獨立董事制度再次受到關注及檢討。獨立董事主要功能為對企業經營者之監督，故獨立董事最重要之資格乃「獨立性」及「專業性」，而其中之「獨立性」為影響獨立董事制度成效發揮與否之關鍵因素，因此，如何確保獨立董事執行職務時之獨立性，即為最核心之關鍵問題。 依目前法制，獨立董事若無大股東的支持或推舉，實難當選。因此，社會大眾易因現行獨立董事產生的方式而質疑其獨立性，並致生以形式印象推翻實質獨立性的偏見。另外，獨立董事既然被賦予監督一般董事或經營團隊的角色，然而實務上卻由董事會決定獨立董事的薪酬數額，兩者間似乎有其衝突矛盾性。 因此，本文的研究重點為：一、現行獨立董事的「產生方式」為何易招致社會大眾質疑其獨立性？是否有其他的改善方式可以強化及確保其獨立性?二、現行獨立董事的薪酬制度有什麼問題存在？其薪酬制度應如何設計始能有助其客觀獨立行使職權？ 在分析現行獨立董事制度運作成效不理想的原因後，並在兼顧目前獨立董事仍由股東會選舉產生以及其薪酬由董事會決定的現行法制框架下，本文嘗試提出一個創新並具客觀獨立的獨立董事產生方式、以及建構一套獨立董事薪酬之參考水準及薪資結構設計，做為獨立董事制度之改革芻議，並希冀提供政策制定者未來有關獨立董事制度改革發展之參考。

Although the independent director system has been adopted by Taiwan for more than a decade, many listed companies are still found to be involved in corporate scandals. And in the wake of recent corporate scandals, the effectiveness of independent director system has been closely examined and reviewed again. The major function of independent directors is to oversee a company’s management team; therefore, the most important qualifications for independent directors are “independence” and “expertise”. And “independence” is the key to the effectiveness of the independent directors system. Thus, how to ensure that independent directors maintain their independences when they perform their duties is very crucial. According to current legal system, the independent directors cannot be elected without the support of major shareholders, which leads to the public’s questioning the independence of the independent directors and their prejudice that independent directors are not independent even they are actually independent. Further, there seems to exist a conflict given that the independent directors have to oversee the non-independent directors and management team, but the amount of independent directors’ compensations are determined by the board of directors. Therefore, this research focuses on: 1) why the current election process easily leads to the public’s questioning the independence of the independent directors and whether there is any other election method which can improve the independence of the independent directors. 2) what the problems of the current compensation scheme of independent directors and how to design a compensation scheme which could ensure the independence of the independent directors. Through analyzing the reasons why the independent directors system cannot work effectively, and taking into consideration the current legal framework applied to the election of independent directors and determination of their compensation, this research proposes an innovative process of electing independent directors and establishes a compensation scheme for the independent directors in the hope that in the future this proposed reform could help the governor improve the current independent directors system.