米ＳＥＣ、決算訂正時の役員報酬取り戻しルールの適用拡大案公表（ＣＦＯより）

SEC Proposes to Vastly Expand Clawback Rules

米ＳＥＣが、業績に基づく役員報酬を決算訂正時に会社が取り戻さなければならないというルールの適用範囲を拡大する案を公表したという記事。

The Securities and Exchange Commission, as expected, proposed on Wednesday to expand the circumstances under which companies must “claw back” performance-based bonuses awarded to executive officers. The proposal, aimed at implementing the clawback provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, did contain at least one surprise, however.

この案では、違法行為がなくても、役員は報酬取戻しの対象になります。財務数値が訂正された場合で、訂正後の新しい数値で計算すると、賞与が払われなかったり、より低い賞与となった場合には、賞与を支払われていた役員は、その会計上のエラーが意図的なものかどうかにかかわらず、会社に対して、賞与を払い戻さなければなりません。

The main feature of the proposed rules is that officers would be subject to clawbacks even when there was no misconduct. Upon a restatement of financials, if the new accounting would not have triggered a bonus, or would have triggered a lower bonus, had it been correct in the first place, the excess amount paid would go back to the company regardless of whether the accounting error was intentional.

The SEC has had clawback rules in place for more than a decade, following the spate of major accounting scandals, including those at Enron and WorldCom, that came to light in the first few years of this century. But the commission hasn’t required compensation to be returned in cases where there was no misconduct.

「役員は、そもそも受け取るべきでなかったインセンティブ報酬をそのまま持ち続けることを許されるべきではない」とＳＥＣの委員長は述べています。

“Executive officers should not be permitted to retain incentive-based compensation that they should not have received in the first instance,” SEC Chair Mary Jo White said in a statement.

日本の上場会社でも、大きな金額の決算訂正が相次いでいます。同じようなルールを取り入れるべきでは。（役員報酬の水準自体が米国と比べて低いので、さほどの影響はないでしょうが、会計上の不正やエラーで役員が得をするという事態は是正しなければなりません。）

ＳＥＣのプレスリリース
SEC Proposes Rules Requiring Companies to Adopt Clawback Policies on Executive Compensation