Corporate responsibility
The demands on management boards, managing directors and supervisory boards in an increasingly regulated and complex environment, are constantly grwoing – and with them the need for strategic risk and communication management.
In the event of breaches of duty, companies, but also individuals, face not only criminal and civil law consequences: considerable reputational damage can also be the result. Good corporate governance is the best protection against liability.
We advise you on the scope and content of the corporate responsibility of executive bodies and managers and provide strategic and legal support to board members in setting up robust governance structures.
Our goal: reliable results and legally compliant implementation, both nationally and internationally.
In the area of governance, our work focuses on establishing, reviewing and optimizing corporate governance structures. On the other hand, we take care of the reliable and legally effective allocation and exercise of relevant legal obligations and control tasks.
Our services also include the implementation of effective risk management and assurance systems, as well as comprehensive advice in all ESG areas.
Governance structures
We help you to establish effective and company-appropriate governance structures and support you in aligning these structures with constantly changing regulatory requirements.
We take a critical look at the rights and obligations of your company’s executive bodies – with many years of practical experience in various management positions as well as in consulting. We take on the preparation, legal protection and implementation of relevant board decisions (business judgment rule), especially in connection with compliance incidents or breaches. We also develop effective (defense) strategies in crisis situations.
Our services:
The continuous development of national sustainability regulations and European requirements such as the EU Taxonomy, EU Disclosure Regulation or CSRD require comprehensive and flexible solutions. We help executive bodies and managers to review the organization of their company and redesign reporting channels and structures where necessary. We review the various organizational and operational structures within your company, draw up the necessary internal guidelines and directives and other corporate documents (appointments, delegations, etc.) or adapt existing documents to new requirements.
We advise on the scope and content of the corporate responsibility of boards and executives and provide strategic and legal support to board members.
One focus of our work is the establishment, review and optimization of corporate governance structures in order to enable the reliable and legally effective allocation and exercise of relevant legal obligations and control tasks.
We evaluate the personnel and structural resources of your gatekeeper functions and check whether they are appropriately equipped and organized.
We identify the qualifications and capacities required to ensure the efficient management of governance processes and the fulfillment of regulatory requirements in the long term. We also recommend targeted measures to optimize the allocation of resources and further skills development.
The effective management and monitoring of subsidiaries and minority shareholdings is a particular challenge for groups with decentralized or multinational structures: inconsistent governance, risk and compliance (GRC) standards, unclear reporting lines and limited scope for influence in groups increase regulatory, financial and reputational risks.
We optimize participation structures, control mechanisms and reporting channels and thus create uniform, transparent and efficient management of all participations.
Unclear structures, a lack of control mechanisms or insufficient involvement in key decision-making processes in supervisory bodies harbor considerable risks. Their effectiveness determines whether risks are identified at an early stage, compliance is ensured and strategic decisions are made appropriately. We analyze how effective the monitoring and control function of a supervisory board is and examine whether supervisory bodies perform their tasks efficiently, monitor risks appropriately and proactively address regulatory requirements.
We support you and your company in connection with potential directors’ and officers’ liability cases and other crisis situations. Particularly in connection with compliance violations or ineffective compliance programs, we examine whether or not breaches of duty give rise to claims for compensation. We are also your point of contact when it comes to the legally compliant implementation of relevant follow-up decisions.
If a dispute cannot be avoided, we also represent our clients’ interests in court and support them during arbitration and mediation proceedings.
Gatekeeper functions are key elements of risk management and regulatory compliance. A lack of independence, insufficient resources or unclear powers can severely limit their effectiveness. We assess how efficient and independent your compliance, legal and other gatekeeper functions are and check whether they have the necessary powers, resources and structures to effectively manage risks, meet regulatory requirements and consistently address compliance violations.
Integrated risk management and
assurance systems
Only integrated risk management and closely interlinked cooperation between individual assurance functions can ensure that you and your company are not surprised by a crisis.
This is where we come in with our integrated risk management approach. We combine the various risk areas (strategic, financial, operational and legal) using a harmonized methodology and a standardized reporting system to create a comprehensive risk map of the company. This gives you the confidence that you have an overview of all your risks and can always take targeted countermeasures in good time.
Our consulting services combine regulatory requirements with practical solutions – transparently, efficiently and sustainably. In this way, we create corporate security, minimize liability risks and strengthen the trust of stakeholders and supervisory authorities.
Our services:
We support you in setting up and optimizing integrated risk management and assurance systems. In particular, we take care of establishing a suitable “three lines” organizational model and developing the right methodology for your company-wide risk management. We also design adequate compliance controls that help you to regularly and effectively check whether your key compliance requirements are being met as part of your internal control system.
We help you to standardize existing reporting modules to create consolidated company-wide reporting on risks and corresponding mitigation measures. In this way, we provide management boards and supervisory boards in particular with a reliable data basis for business decisions.
ESG consulting
ESG has become a core task for the corporate organization and risk management: Regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations for ESG compliance are growing continuously and have turned sustainability issues from a “nice-to-have” into a business-critical priority.
Whether employees, shareholders, investors and banks, customers or the public: companies must prove to a wide range of stakeholders that they conduct their business worldwide in an ethically responsible and sustainable manner – a task that must be approached holistically due to its cross-cutting nature and complexity.
The diversity of ESG regulations and different requirements presents companies with considerable challenges. Without specialized expertise in the areas of environment, social and governance, effective implementation is virtually impossible. With our integrated consulting approach, we help you to bring together the different aspects and thus improve your company’s ESG performance.
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ESG is also playing an increasingly important role in company acquisitions and disposals. Here we support you and your company in connection with transactions: We examine the companies concerned and their operations in terms of ESG criteria with a view to the relevant risks and the maturity level of the individual components for the buyers, sellers, financing banks or other third parties involved.
The ESG framework is constantly evolving and presents companies with complex challenges. At the same time, a proactive approach offers the opportunity to secure competitive advantages and build sustainable stakeholder trust.
With expertise and experience in environmental compliance and corporate governance, we can provide you with comprehensive advice on ESG from a single source: We set up the corporate organization around governance, risk and compliance in such a way that it can monitor, credibly assess, demonstrate and, where necessary, further improve the company’s ESG performance.
A lack of transparency, misleading ESG communication or insufficiently substantiated sustainability promises can result in regulatory consequences, reputational damage and liability risks as greenwashing.
Sustainability statements must therefore be robust, verifiable and closely aligned with internal governance and control processes in order to minimize these risks and strengthen the trust of investors, customers and other stakeholders. We take care to ensure exactly that and also advise you in a comprehensive internal repository on the appropriate documentation and availability of the individual topics on which the reporting is based.
We help you to maintain an overview in the face of increasing reporting obligations arising from a wide variety of laws and regulations. The aim: to make company-wide non-financial reporting target group-oriented and efficient.
When it comes to environmental compliance, the focus is particularly on climate change: this is about adapting to climate change and mitigating its consequences, i.e. climate compliance.
We advise you on climate-related risks (e.g. physical risks with regard to extreme weather events or long-term changes in climatic and ecological conditions) as well as on transformation risks in connection with the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Good corporate governance is the best protection against liability.
