In 2015, the requirement that at least one director and one Representative Director must be a resident of Japan was changed. It is not required to have a resident Representative Director although it can be convenient to do so. Directors are mandatories (agents) of the shareholders, and the Representative Director is a mandatory of the board. Any action outside of these mandates is considered a breach of mandatory duty. Auditing and reporting Every K.K. with multiple directors must have at least one . Statutory auditors report to the shareholders, and are empowered to demand financial and operational reports from the directors. K.K.s with capital of over ¥500m, liabilities of over ¥2bn and/or publicly traded securities are required to have three statutory auditors, and must also have an annual audit performed by an outside CPA. Public K.K.s must also file securities law reports with the Ministry of Finance. Under the new Company Law, public and other non-close K.K.s may either have a statutory auditor, or a , and structure similar to that of American public corporations. If the company has an auditing committee, it is referred to as a . Close K.K.s may also have a single person serving as director and statutory auditor, regardless of capital or liabilities. A statutory auditor may be any person who is not an employee or director of the company. In practice, the position is often filled by a very senior employee close to retirement, or by an outside attorney or accountant. Officers Japanese law does not designate any corporate officer positions. Most Japanese-owned kabushiki gaisha do not have "officers" per se, but are directly managed by the directors, one of whom generally has the title of . The Japanese equivalent of a corporate vice president is a . Traditionally, under the lifetime employment system, directors and department chiefs begin their careers as line employees of the company and work their way up the management hierarchy over time. This is not the case in most foreign-owned companies in Japan, and some native companies have also abandoned this system in recent years in favor of encouraging more lateral movement in management. Corporate officers often have the legal title of shihainin, which makes them authorized representatives of the corporation at a particular place of business, in addition to a common-use title. Other legal issues Taxation Kabushiki gaisha are subject to double taxation of profits and dividends, as