Supervisory Boards of German Companies

Our database generates daily updated announcements from commercial register publications for all common legal forms. In our news feed, you'll find precisely formulated reports for every change, such as: "Date – Dr. XYZ from Munich succeeds Max Mustermann and becomes a new member of the administrative board of Beispiel SE based in Frankfurt."

The composition depends largely on the legal form and size of the company. While an AG is legally required to have a supervisory board, many GmbHs use a voluntary advisory board for strategic consultation. The Societas Europaea (SE) is often governed through an administrative board (monistic system). In our database, we maintain dedicated person pages where you can track in detail which boards and legal forms a person is active in and which professions are most commonly represented.

A supervisory board is legally required for stock corporations (AG) and has strict oversight and control duties. An advisory board, on the other hand, is usually established voluntarily in a GmbH, GmbH & Co. KG, or family business. The tasks of the advisory board are defined in the articles of association and range from pure management consulting to supervisory board-like control functions.

Using our "Co-determined only" filter, you can find boards that include employee representatives. In Germany, the One-Third Participation Act generally applies to corporations with 500 or more employees (one-third of seats for employees on the supervisory board). From 2,000 employees, the Co-Determination Act applies (parity, i.e., equal composition). Voluntary advisory boards in mid-sized companies are usually exempt from these requirements.

The female share on boards varies by legal form. For approximately 100 listed and parity co-determined companies in Germany, a fixed gender quota of 30 percent applies for the supervisory board. In advisory boards of mid-sized GmbHs, the quota is often structured differently. In our directory, you can check gender distribution in real time and specifically filter for companies with the highest female or male share.