협동조합은 투자자가 아닌 이용자가 소유하고 1인 1표라는 민주적 통제를 기반으로 조합원과 지역사회에 필요한 제품과 서비스를 공급하는 조직으로, 빈곤감소와 양질의 일자리 창출과 제공 등 지속가능발전목표를 실현하는데 있어 중요한 조직으로 인정받고 있다. 협동조합의 소유자인 조합원이 납입하는 출자금은 의결권, 배당권 등의 소유권 특징과 같은 자기자본 속성과 조합원이 탈퇴하면 상환해야 하는 의무와 같은 부채 속성을 동시에 지니고 있는 하이브리드 증권이다. 주식회사의 주식과 다른 특징을 가지는 협동조합 출자금의 자기자본-부채 분류는 협동조합의 주요한 관심사이다. 또한 협동조합의 비분할 적립금은 협동조합의 또 다른 특징으로 조합원에게 분배되지 않고 공동으로 소유되고 관리되는 재산이다. 본 연구는 FASB와 IASB 등에서 제시한 자기자본 분류 접근법을 살펴보고 각 접근법에 따라 협동조합 법과 정관을 분석하여 출자금과 비분할 적립금을 자기자본과 부채로 분류하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 본 연구는 협동조합기본법과 6개 개별법, 각 표준정관을 통해 8개 유형의 협동조합에 대한 규정을 살펴보고, 기본소유권 접근법, 손실흡수 접근법, 시점-금액 접근법 등 7가지 자기자본-부채 분류 접근법을 사용한다. 분석 결과, 현재 협동조합 법과 표준정관 하에서 대부분의 협동조합 출자금은 주로 부채로, 비분할 적립금은 주로 자기자본으로 분류될 수 있었다. 기업회계기준해석서 제2102호는 협동조합 출자금이 자기자본으로 분류할 수 있는 근거를 제시했지만 현재 협동조합 법과 정관에는 협동조합이 상환을 거부할 무조건적인 권리에 관한 조항이 없어 부채로 분류될 가능성이 크다. 또한 IASB와 FASB가 선호하는 접근법인 기본소유권 접근법과 시점-금액 접근법 하에서 협동조합 출자금은 부채로 분류될 가능성이 크다. 반면에, 자기자본 요건을 손실흡수로 규정한 손실흡수접근법 하에서 대부분의 협동조합 출자금과 비분할 적립금은 자기자본으로 분류되었다. 본 연구의 시사점은 다음과 같다. 주식회사를 중심으로 발전한 접근법보다는 협동조합의 목적과 운영에 적합한 접근법을 채택하는 것이 협동조합 이해관계자들에게 더 적절한 정보를 제공할 수 있다. 협동조합의 자기자본 강화를 위해 비분할 적립금을 장려할 필요가 있으며, 개별적으로 발전해온 협동조합 법들 간에 출자금, 지분, 손실부담 등 관련 규정이 서로 다른 경우가 있는데, 이를 일치시켜야 할 것으로 보인다.
Co-operatives are democratically owned and controlled by users, not investors, and supply products and services to members and communities. They are acknowledged as important organizations in realizing sustainable development goals like poverty reduction, the creation and provision of quality jobs. Member shares of co-operatives are hybrid securities with characteristics of equity and liabilities: voting rights and dividends rights; obligation to refund member shares when members withdraw. Member shares have characteristics different from stocks of investor-owned businesses and their classification as equity or liabilities are major concern of co-operatives. Moreover, another attribute of co-operatives are indivisible reserves, which are assets commonly owned and controlled by but not distributed to members. This paper aims to classify member shares and indivisible reserves as equity or liabilities by analyzing acts and model articles of incorporation regarding to co-operatives using approaches for equity-liabilities distinction suggested by FASB, IASB, and so on. For the purpose, the study identifies the Framework Act on Cooperatives and the other six acts for co-operatives as well as their model articles of incorporation, use seven approaches for equity-liabilities distinction including basic ownership, loss absorption and timing-amount approaches. In addition to member shares, complicated financial instruments with attributes both of equity and liabilities have been issued and IASB, FASB, etc. have acknowledged difficulties to classify them as equity or liabilities. They have tried to make criteria to complement those problems but maintain dichotomous classification: equity or liabilities. When approaches are invented, the important point is whether they are able to provide proper information to stakeholders including investors. The classification of hybrid instruments can be dependent on what information are provided. Most of approaches about the classification and accounting standards have developed on behalf of investor-owned business. Thus, they are likely not to fit with co-operatives, which ownership structure and purpose are different from investor-owned businesses, and not to provide suitable information about co-operatives. This paper tries to find those issues and search for appropriate criteria for co-operatives. The results show that member shares in most types of co-operatives can be classified as liabilities and indivisible reserves as equity under the acts and the model articles of incorporation. Although IASB proposed the method that member shares can be classified as equity through IFRIC Interpretation 2, the current acts and the model articles do not have clauses about unconditional rights to refuse redemption of member shares, and then it is highly possible for member shares to be classified as liabilities. Also, it is more likely for member shares to be distinguished as liabilities under basic ownership and timing-amount approaches which IASB and FASB prefer. On contrary, under the loss absorption approach that defines equity as the ability to absorb loss, member shares and indivisible reserves in most types of co-operatives can be classified as equity. The implications of this paper are as follows. It is needed to adopt an approach relevant to the purpose and operation of co-operatives than approaches developed based on investor-owned businesses, which can offer stakeholders of co-operatives more suitable information. Also, it is needed to promote indivisible reserves in order to strengthen the equity capital of co-operatives. This study finds that clauses about member shares, accountability of members for loss, the disposal of residual property among the acts are different from each other, which seems to be in line with each other.