Zur Empfehlung von Abfindungsobergrenzen für Vorstandsmitglieder

This study examines whether the severance payments to members of the management board of listed companies are restricted by recommendation 4.2.3 paragraph 4 sentence 1 of the German Corporate Governance Code dated February 7, 2017. However, the agreement proposed there to limit the amount of severance payments in the employment contract does not have any legal binding effect if the contract is terminated prematurely by means of a termination agreement. The analysis of extensive empirical data on declarations of conformity by all CDAX companies in the years 2010 to 2014 shows that significantly more than 20 percent of companies reject the agreement of the recommended upper limit. Furthermore, it can be shown for the actual severance ratios of prematurely retired executive board members of DAX companies in the years 2010 to 2014 that the majority of the recommended upper limits were exceeded despite declarations of conformity to the contrary. On the basis of the empirical results, a design recommendation for practice is derived, which can help the recommendation to have a stronger impact.