明治時代のコーポレート・ガバナンス : 明治44年商法改正論議を中心として

抄録

In the Meiji Period (1868-1912), it became common for Japanese businesses to adopt the form of a corporation - the first was Dai-ichi National Bank founded in 1873 with Shibusawa as President. He also contributed to setting up around 500 other corporations. Shibusawa developed his own management philosophy based on Confucius' teachings, which was to combine economics and morality with the interest of the nation as priority. By the mid-Meiji Period, manipulation of financial statements and dividends had spread amongst Japanese corporations. In 1911, the Imperial Parliament held discussions on: introducing an auditing system run by professional accountants; preventing any one person serving as board member of several corporations; limit the responsibilities of non-board-serving corporate advisors. However, these discussions never made law and allowed some company presidents to pursue self-interests at the expense of shareholders and creditors. Therefore, it is now worthwhile for the present parliament to review the 1911 discussions.