About Der Aufsichtsrat

Der Aufsichtsrat

Der Aufsichtsrat is the German specialist journal for supervisory board members: the Fachzeitschrift delivering "unabhängige Fachinformationen für Aufsichtsräte, Beiräte & Verwaltungsräte" — monthly, in 11 issues a year, compactly on 16 printed pages — from Düsseldorf. Published since 2004 within the Handelsblatt publishing group (today carried by the Fachmedien Otto Schmidt group), the journal serves the Mandatsträger in Überwachungsgremien: the supervisory and advisory board members of Aktiengesellschaften, family businesses and public-sector bodies. Its formula — Fachbeiträge on current problems and recurring tasks, plus a short overview of current case law and personnel news — has made it the practitioner journal of German corporate governance.

Overview

Der Aufsichtsrat is the working journal of the German supervisory board profession. The format is deliberately compact: each issue delivers betriebswirtschaftliche und juristische Fachinformationen (business and legal specialist information) journalistically prepared on 16 Druckseiten — a readable monthly briefing for busy board members. The 11-issues-a-year rhythm (monthly with a combined summer issue) follows the board year: the reporting season, the Hauptversammlungen, the autumn strategy sessions.

The readership — Aufsichtsräte, Beiräte, Verwaltungsräte — spans the German governance landscape: the supervisory boards of listed AGs under the German Corporate Governance Kodex (DCGK), the Beiräte of Mittelstand family businesses, the oversight bodies of public and nonprofit organizations. The journal orients itself to practitioners' needs: its Fachbeiträge address the actual problems and recurring duties of mandate-holders — from the supervisory board in the small family business to the AG board, from relations with the Vorstand (especially the organized information flow) to the DCGK's requirements.

The journal's distinctive assets are its surveys and studies: the Aufsichtsrats-Panel — repeated panel surveys of mandate-holders on current questions of oversight practice (the sixth panel, for example, drew 39 participants covering experience from 151 companies) — and studies such as "Vergütung deutscher Vorstandsorgane" on executive compensation. Special issues on selected focus topics — "Rechte und Pflichten von Aufsichts- und Beiräten" (rights and duties), "Haftung von Aufsichtsräten" (liability) — deepen the core themes. The journal's ISSN is 1613-1282.

History

Der Aufsichtsrat was founded in 2004 within the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt — the Düsseldorf publishing group behind the Handelsblatt business daily — as a specialist journal for the then-growing profession of supervisory board work. The early 2000s were the formative years of modern German corporate governance: the German Corporate Governance Kodex had been introduced in 2002, and the demand for practitioner-oriented board information was rising. The journal's founding editor-in-chief was Dr. Annette Fuhr (also cited as Annette Jünger-Fuhr), the verantwortliche Redakteurin, with Prof. Dr. Manuel Theisen as geschäftsführender Herausgeber.

The publisher history mirrors the consolidation of German specialist publishing: 2004–2013 the journal appeared with the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt; 2014–2020 with Handelsblatt Fachmedien GmbH; and thereafter — per the ECONIS/ZBW catalogue record — with Fachmedien Otto Schmidt in Düsseldorf, which took over the Handelsblatt specialist-media business. The journal's title line evolved alongside: from "Fachinformationen für verantwortungsvolle Überwachung und Beratung von Unternehmen" to the current "unabhängige Fachinformationen für Aufsichtsräte, Beiräte & Verwaltungsräte."

The journal extended its brand into books: a "Der Aufsichtsrat" book series launched with "Der Beirat im Mittelstand – Erfahrungsberichte aus der Praxis" (edited by Dr. Christoph Achenbach and Dr. Frederik Gottschalck), responding to the growing need for in-depth information on the facets of supervisory and advisory board work — with a foreword by Albrecht Woeste, honorary chairman of Henkel. The uncounted supplement "M&A Spezial" and, since 2020, special editions (Sonderausgaben) further extended the portfolio. Through more than two decades and three publisher homes, the journal's core — the 16-page monthly practitioner briefing — has remained constant.

Coverage and Content

The editorial program follows the supervisory board's working year. The Fachbeiträge coverage — the core element — illuminates current problems and recurring tasks of mandate-holders in oversight bodies: the board's role in strategy, the information flow from the Vorstand, efficiency reviews, documentation, and liability questions. The Rechtsprechung coverage — the Kurzübersicht über die aktuelle Rechtsprechung — keeps readers current on court decisions affecting board work. The Personen coverage — Personalmeldungen — tracks appointments and departures in Germany's boardrooms.

The special-topic coverage — the Sonderhefte on focus themes such as rights and duties or liability — deepens the legal foundations. The sixth panel — the liability survey — deserves its telling. The sixth Aufsichtsrats-Befragung produced a mood picture on current questions of oversight function and practice: 39 mandate-holders answered the anonymized panel questions, half of them having participated in all six surveys — ensuring continuity and reliability. Through multiple mandates the panel covered experience from 151 companies; more than two-thirds of participants (69.2 percent) chair at least one oversight body; 13 of the represented companies were Prime Standard listed. On the demand for stronger individual liability obligations, opponents and supporters balanced; 56.4 percent favored a deductible in supervisory-board liability insurance considering the granted compensation. The average mandate count had fallen from 4.21 to 3.87 since autumn 2007. The panel's function — the sixth's — shows the journal's research role: the profession surveying itself — the data of the Aufsichtsrat. The study coverage — "Vergütung deutscher Vorstandsorgane," the extensive study of executive compensation at Prime Standard companies across DAX, MDAX, TecDAX and SDAX — extends the brand into research.

The book series — the Mittelstand volume — deserves its telling. The first volume, "Der Beirat im Mittelstand – Erfahrungsberichte aus der Praxis," assigns its contributions to five thematic focal points: questions arising from different ownership structures; contributions considering the company's situation and the author's personal position; the practical shaping of actual advisory board work; and the important — and frequently underestimated — additional aspects such as documentation (Protokollierung), efficiency review (Effizienzprüfung) and liability questions. In his foreword, Albrecht Woeste explains why establishing an advisory board matters: the ever more complex world should prompt every independent entrepreneur and every management to have all important business decisions counter-checked by a Beirat — not only substance questions measured against the jointly adopted strategy and the weighing of opportunities against risks, but also financing questions, legal questions, and often questions of leadership and organization. The series' function — the launch's — answered the growing need for in-depth information on the facets of board work: the journal as book publisher. The formats' mix — the monthly 16-page journal, the panels, the studies, the books, the special issues — defines Der Aufsichtsrat: the practitioner journal of the German supervisory board.

Organization and Ownership

Der Aufsichtsrat is published in Düsseldorf — the journal's seat, listed at 40213 Düsseldorf — within the Fachmedien Otto Schmidt group (successor to Handelsblatt Fachmedien GmbH and the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt's specialist publishing). The bibliographic record traces the publisher line: Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt (2004–2013), Handelsblatt Fachmedien (2014–2020), Fachmedien Otto Schmidt (thereafter). The responsible editor is Dr. Annette Fuhr (verantwortliche Redakteurin; editorial contact ar.redaktion@fachverlag.de), and the geschäftsführender Herausgeber is Prof. Dr. Manuel Theisen.

The business model follows the specialist-press pattern: subscriptions to the 11-issue journal, an extensive online archive for subscribers, studies and special issues sold separately (the 2011 executive-compensation study was priced at 375 euros), and the book series. The journal's self-description — "unabhängige Fachinformationen" — positions it as the independent practitioner voice rather than an industry mouthpiece. Detailed circulation, staffing and revenue figures are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is der-aufsichtsrat.de (historically aufsichtsrat.de): the portal for subscriptions, the subscriber online archive, studies and special issues. The site carries the journal's presentation — the monthly betriebswirtschaftliche und juristische Fachinformationen, the 16-page format, the panel surveys — and the ordering paths for the journal, the Sonderhefte and the studies.

The digital strategy follows the specialist-publisher logic: the print monthly for the compact practitioner briefing — the 16 pages, the 11 issues — the portal for the archive and the research products — the studies, the panels, the books. As the supervisory board journal — the Handelsblatt-founded Fachzeitschrift (the 2004 first issue, the Fuhr/Theisen editorship, the Otto Schmidt publishing home) — Der Aufsichtsrat remains the profession's paper: the monthly briefing for Germany's Aufsichtsräte, Beiräte and Verwaltungsräte, in print and at der-aufsichtsrat.de.