Supervisory board competences transparent for the first time
Governance Perspectives - An analysis of the implementation and reporting in the annual reports 2022 of the companies of the DAX index family
This study by the European Center for Board Effectiveness ECBE and the management consultancy hkp/// group, which specialises in corporate governance and strategic HR management, analyses the qualification matrices in the 2022 annual reports of the companies listed in the DAX, MDAX and SDAX stock exchange indices for the first time. In addition to analysing the presentation, scope and content of the matrices, the objective is also to analyse the individual competences of supervisory boards in Germany.
For this purpose, the individual qualification matrices of all companies were systematically recorded and evaluated at company and individual level.
With a total of 38 (out of 40) DAX, 44 (out of 50) MDAX and 56 (out of 70) SDAX companies, around 90% of the companies comply with the requirements of the GCGC. While companies with a foreign legal form do not fall under these requirements and therefore refrain from publication, the other companies without a qualification matrix give a variety of reasons for their deviation from the GCGC. These range from stating that the matrix has not yet been drawn up and the required competences of the supervisory board are sufficiently taken into account. Some comment that the bureaucratic requirements leads to unnecessary additional work and that the qualification matrices do not represent any additional value.
Today, more than ever, the supervisory board is a profession with required
knowledge and experience - especially at the level of large listed companies.
Making competences systematically publicly visible and thus enabling an independent
assessment is becoming self-evident and is proof of successful work in terms
of good corporate governance.
Daniela Mattheus
Co-owner and Senior Board Advisor ECBE
