Corporate Governance
Corporate governance stands for the responsible management and control of a company, geared toward long-term value creation that forms the essential basis for sustainable corporate success.
For a successful company with a rich tradition, like PWO, lawful action is simply a matter of course. We at PWO are committed to responsible corporate governance to ensure we maintain and enhance the confidence of our shareholders, employees, customers and suppliers, as well as the public, in the Company’s and the Group’s management.
In doing so, we are guided by the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC) in its currently valid version, which was initially published by the Government Commission GCGC on February 26, 2002. The GCGC is a recognized standard for good corporate governance at listed German companies.
PWO issues an annual Declaration of Conformity explaining whether the recommendations of the Corporate Governance Commission have been met. With this declaration, PWO follows the "comply-or-explain principle" that requires companies to disclose deviations.
Publically listed stock corporations must submit and publish a Declaration on Corporate Governance each year, and group parent companies must do the same for the group. In addition, the German Corporate Governance Code recommends that the Management and Supervisory Boards report on corporate governance annually in the form of a Corporate Governance Report and publish this report in conjunction with the Declaration on Corporate Governance.
The Declaration on Corporate Governance and the Declaration of Conformity were summarized and published jointly in the Corporate Governance Report.
Management Boards and Supervisory Boards of publically listed companies must annually declare that the recommendations of the "Government Commission German Corporate Governance Code" published by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in the official part of the Federal Gazette have been and will continue to be met, and which recommendations were not and will not be applied, in which case they are required to provide a reason. The Declaration must be made permanently available to shareholders.
Since 2017, PWO was obliged to prepare and disclose a non-financial statement for the Company and the Group in the management report or a separate non-financial statement for the first time. This statement should address environmental, employee and social issues, in addition to respect for human rights and the fight against corruption and bribery.
The remuneration report presents the Management Board’s and Supervisory Board’s remuneration pursuant to the applicable accounting principles of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and German Accounting Standards (GAS 17) and the recommendations of the German Corporate Government Code (GCGC) in the valid version dated February 7, 2017.