Editorial Open Access
Velte, Bus Eco J 2014, 5:1
DOI: 10.4172/2151-6219.1000e103
Volume 5 • Issue 1 • 1000e103
Bus Eco J
ISSN: 2151-6219 BEJ, an open access journal
Under the term of corporate governance, reform approaches,
primarily from a legal point of view, will be discussed and transformed
into standards, in order for capital market orientated companies to
be managed more efciently and to be controlled more efectively.
In the two tier system of German corporate governance, corporate
governance in public limited companies is primarily aimed at the rights
and responsibilities of the management board, supervisory board
and shareholder’s meeting, which, as main entities, sustain the target-
oriented management and controlling of the company. However, also in
the Anglo-American board system, corporate governance has a central
signifcance. Te bundling of management and control tasks for inside
and outside directors based on the board system admittedly provides a
fexible allocation of powers and responsibilities, however, at the same
time, contains risks with reference to the neutrality of controlling. Te
fact that neither the one nor the two tier model can be referred to as
being an absolute supremacy has induced the European Commission
to implement a company voting right between a dual and board system
when introducing the "Societas Europaea (SE)".
Tis article is based on the interdependent relationship between
corporate governance and controlling. Te regulation tightness has also
distinctly increased with regard to capital market regulation over the
past few years, mainly attributable to internationalisation ambitions
in the area of fnancial accounting and integrated reporting. Here an
intensifcation of controlling by corporate management in particular
is to the fore, which, alongside internal instances (internal audit,
supervisory board), is carried out by external control bearers (external
auditors, enforcement, market for corporate control).
In the next two chapters the article initially covers a theoretical
funding of corporate governance, as well as an explanation as to why
there is a necessity to implement a integrated reporting system. In
view of the fact that corporate governance substantially determines the
embodiment of controlling by companies, the question arises as to what
the concrete efects from the corporate governance discussion are on the
controlling practice of listed companies. In the following chapters the
areas of auditing, supervision and control will be analysed separately, in
order to clarify how the role of corporate governance from the point of
view of management theory and practice presently depicts itself, and in
what shape they need to be in order adjust to future developments. Te
article concludes with a summary of the fndings.
Teoretical Implications of Corporate Governance
Te historic development of the US-American economy (and
thus also society) features diferent models of governance. Te term
of corporate feudalism is summarised by Liefmann [1] as the early
voting trusts (owners transferred their shares to a trust in exchange
for certifcates) and the later holding companies in particular. Te
resulting (powers) owners were also named Captains of Industry.
Later the managerial corporation with reference to the comments by
Holmström and Kaplan [2] pointed to the ideal of a company controlled
by management. Because of the increasing number of shareholders,
ownership and the authority to dispose fell apart. As a result of this, the
US-American discussion on the corporate problem arose. Eventually
the endeavours of the creation of shareholder democracy and minority
representation, summarised since the 1960’s under the heading of
shareholder activism, could be interpreted as reform approaches,
which are geared towards improving corporate governance.
Against this background, the US-American literature from the
1960s and 1970s investigated the question of how management, in
the sense of the objective of the owner, can be disciplined. Te most
*Corresponding author: Patrick Velte, Visiting Professor of Accounting, Faculty of
Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany, Tel: 00494131 677-2117;
Fax: 00494131 677-2122; E-mail: velte@leuphana.de
Received February 03, 2014; Accepted February 04, 2014; Published February
11, 2014
Citation: Velte P (2014) Improving Corporate Governance Quality Through
Modern Controlling - Integrated Reporting in the German Two Tier System. Bus
Eco J 5: e103. doi: 10.4172/2151-6219.1000e103
Copyright: © 2014 Velte P. This is an open-access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the interdependencies between corporate governance and
controlling for the German two tier system. In German listed corporations, the management board is responsible for the
implementation and development of the controlling system, while the supervisory board has to review the effectiveness.
Approach: After a theoretical funding of corporate governance an impact analysis based on the area of auditing,
supervision and control will be focused. The main implications of the international integrated reporting project are
presented.
Findings: The analysis shows that the development of fnancial accounting and corporate social responsibility to an
integrated reporting together with an increase in importance of controlling goes hand in hand. Controlling will form the
central link between corporate governance quality and integrated reporting.
Value: After the fnancial crisis, integrated reporting can be classifed as a key instrument to increase trust in the
quality of corporate governance and accounting for global companies. This project will lead to best practice reporting
standards to communicate sustainable fnancial, social and environmental values to the stakeholders.
Improving Corporate Governance Quality Through Modern Controlling
- Integrated Reporting in the German Two Tier System
Patrick Velte*
Faculty of Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany
Business and Economics
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ISSN: 2151-6219