BDI Fact Check | Mittelstand & Family Businesses The German Mittelstand
Bureaucracy
Do disclosure requirements go hand in hand with more and more transparency of company data?
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Disclosure requirements serve to collect relevant information in the commercial register. Thus, it becomes more transparent. For example, businesses can find information on another company’s contingent liabilities.
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At the same time, maintaining trade secrets is essential – especially for Mittelstand companies with limited market power – in order to survive in the competitive environment. Hence, disclosure requirements should be designed as proportionate as possible to avoid completely “transparent” entrepreneurs.
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In addition, the families of business owners are sometimes endangered because the use of disclosed information can hardly be controlled. Furthermore, the bureaucratic effort of disclosure requirements needs to be minimized.
Selected disclosure requirements of family businesses Source: Stiftung Familienunternehmen (2020)
Publicity under commercial law, GmbH Act and Stock Corporation Act
Planned public Country-by-Country reporting
Company
Publication of annual financial statements
Capital Market Transparency
AnaCredit
Transparency Register
Pay Transparency Act
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