Compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code: an empirical analysis of the compliance statements by German listed companies

In 2002, the German Corporate Governance Code was adopted. This paper examines the overall acceptance of the Code recommendations and identifies its critical standards that receive comparably less agreement among German listed companies. The study is based on the compliance declarations of 408 firms listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The findings indicate a significantly high level of Code conformity which can be expected to increase in the future. Comparative analyses reveal that company size is positively associated with the extent of Code compliance. Neuralgic norms concern the personal liability and compensation of the board members, the staffing of the boards, the structure of the supervisory board and accounting requirements.