About Der Betrieb

Der Betrieb

Der Betrieb (own spelling: DER BETRIEB) is the German weekly journal for business administration, tax law, commercial law and labor law: the Wochenschrift appearing every Monday from Düsseldorf — in its 79th year in 2026 — serving Steuerberater, Wirtschaftsprüfer, Rechtsanwälte and corporate finance executives. Published since 1 January 2021 by the Fachmedien Otto Schmidt KG (part of the Cologne-based Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt KG), after decades with the Handelsblatt publishing group, the journal delivers week by week, on more than 4,000 editorial pages a year, the current contributions, commentaries and court decisions of its four specialist fields. Its self-description — "Kompetenz, Zuverlässigkeit und meinungsbildende Berichterstattung" — has made it, in the publisher's words, Pflichtlektüre: required reading for the tax and legal professions.

Overview

Der Betrieb is the working weekly of the German tax and business-law professions. The format: a weekly journal — appearing Mondays — covering four Fachgebiete: Betriebswirtschaft (business administration), Steuerrecht (tax law), Wirtschaftsrecht (commercial law) and Arbeitsrecht (labor law). The editorial promise: not to let readers decide in isolation from a single field's perspective, but to deliver the overview across all four — the current articles and commentaries by renowned authors, the reporting on legislative changes and court decisions, the practical solution approaches.

The readership — per the publisher — comprises Steuerberater (tax advisors), Wirtschaftsprüfer (auditors), Rechtsanwälte and Fachanwälte (lawyers), Notare, and the Fach- und Führungskräfte in finance, accounting, tax, legal and HR departments of companies and groups, plus authorities, associations, chambers and universities. The weekly rhythm follows the professions' working week: the Monday issue opens the week with the judgments of the supreme federal courts — the wochenaktuelle Berichterstattung über die wichtigsten Urteile aller obersten Bundesgerichte — and the practice-oriented structuring contributions (Gestaltungsbeiträge) that shape the issue.

The journal's distinctive formats: "DER BETRIEB Standpunkte" — monthly, eight pages, one current topic treated across departments and controversially discussed; the quarterly supplement "BewertungsPraktiker" with practice-oriented contributions on the valuation of companies and intangible assets; and the special supplements on current themes — the checklist of potentially EU-unlawful norms, the Lohnsteuermerkblatt, the case-law report on VAT, the supplement on social-insurance changes. The ISSN is 0005-9935.

History

Der Betrieb began in January 1948 as a supplement (Beilage) of the Handelsblatt daily — the first issue appeared on 8 January 1948 — and stepped out as an independent publication on 27 July 1948. The post-war founding placed the journal at the birth of the Federal Republic's tax and business-law order: the young profession of the Steuerberater, the rebuilding corporate landscape, the emerging social market economy. Through the decades the journal grew continuously — "hohe redaktionelle Qualität und kontinuierliche Produktentwicklung" as the publisher's history puts it — earning a first-class reputation in its demanding target group and ranking among the leading German specialist journals in law, business and tax.

The 2021 move — the Otto Schmidt era — deserves its telling. Until 31 December 2020 the journal appeared with the Handelsblatt Fachmedien GmbH in Düsseldorf, part of the Handelsblatt Media Group (the former Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt) — more than seven decades under the Handelsblatt roof, from the 1948 supplement to the 2020 weekly. On 1 January 2021 the journal moved with several other Handelsblatt Fachmedien titles to the newly founded Fachmedien Otto Schmidt KG — part of the Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt KG of Cologne, the legal specialist publisher. The move's logic: the tax-and-law weekly found its home with the law publisher, while the Düsseldorf editorial base and the Monday rhythm continued unchanged. The move's function — the 2021's — secured the title's future: the 73-year-old weekly under a new publishing roof — the Otto Schmidt era of Der Betrieb.

The product evolution: since 2006 the monthly supplement "Status:Recht" informed on national and European company-law developments (discontinued 31 December 2009); the online archive grew to cover issue contents since 1989 plus a DVD with the full texts; book-form publications and practice seminars extended the brand; and the online information service "DB Steuerrechtsprechung kompakt" — judgment reports on corporate tax law by practitioners and judges, linked to the official full-text decisions — brought the journal's case-law reporting into the database age. The 79th volume (2026) documents the continuity: the weekly of the tax and legal professions, still appearing every Monday.

Coverage and Content

The editorial program follows the professions' working year. The tax coverage — the Steuerrecht — spans Bilanzsteuerrecht, Gewinnermittlung, Körperschaftsteuer, Einkommensteuer, Lohnsteuer, Umsatzsteuer, international tax law, and restructuring and insolvency tax law: the core of the tax advisor's practice. The business coverage — the Betriebswirtschaft — spans accounting and financial reporting (Bilanzierung/Rechnungslegung), auditing (Abschlussprüfung), sustainability reporting (Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung), controlling, and company valuation (Unternehmensbewertung).

The commercial-law coverage — the Wirtschaftsrecht — spans company law (Gesellschaftsrecht), corporate compliance, data-protection law (Datenschutzrecht) and corporate governance. The labor-law coverage — the Arbeitsrecht — spans collective and individual labor law, occupational pensions (betriebliche Altersversorgung), working time and vacation, home office and new work, and works-council practice (Betriebsratsarbeit).

The "Standpunkte" — the monthly debate — deserves its telling. In "DER BETRIEB Standpunkte" the journal treats one current topic monthly, across departments (Ressort übergreifend), on eight pages, and discusses it controversially: the tax lawyer, the auditor, the labor lawyer debating the same development from their fields' perspectives. The format's function — the Standpunkte's — is the journal's opinion forum: where the four Fachgebiete meet and argue — the monthly controversy in the weekly. The special supplements — the EU-law checklist, the Lohnsteuermerkblatt, the VAT case-law report, the social-insurance-changes supplement — round out the information offer: the practical checklists and reports for the year's recurring tasks. The valuation coverage — the "BewertungsPraktiker" quarterly — serves the valuation specialists. The case-law coverage — the weekly supreme-court reporting, the "DB Steuerrechtsprechung kompakt" service with its EuGH, BVerfG, BFH and Finanzgericht decisions prepared by practitioners and judges with practice notes — is the journal's backbone. The formats' mix — the weekly journal, the Standpunkte, the BewertungsPraktiker, the special supplements, the database — defines Der Betrieb: the weekly knowledge base of the tax and legal professions.

Organization and Ownership

Der Betrieb is published by the Fachmedien Otto Schmidt KG, Düsseldorf — part of the Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt KG, Köln (customer service: Neumannstraße 10, 40235 Düsseldorf) — which took over the journal with several other Handelsblatt Fachmedien titles on 1 January 2021. The Düsseldorf publishing base continues the journal's historic seat; the Handelsblatt era (until 31 December 2020) remains part of the title's identity.

The business model follows the specialist-press pattern: the annual subscription (831 euros inland including VAT; the print-plus-online combination 872 euros), with the online database — the extensive issue archive since 1989, the judgments, legal texts and administrative instructions — included in the subscription for three users. The renowned authors commenting on current developments, the experienced editorial team selecting from the information flood, the book publications and practice seminars: the publisher's quality promise. Detailed circulation figures beyond the historic 23,242 print run (2010) and current staffing and revenue figures are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is der-betrieb.de: the portal for subscriptions, the "Über DER BETRIEB" presentation, and the online database with the issue archive since 1989 — the judgments, legal texts and administrative instructions, usable by three users per subscription. The "DB Steuerrechtsprechung kompakt" service — the judgment reports on corporate tax law linked to the official full-text decisions retrievable through the database — is the digital case-law product.

The digital strategy follows the specialist-publisher logic: the print weekly for the Monday deep read — the 4,000-plus editorial pages a year, the four fields — the database for the research — the archive since 1989, the judgments, the laws. As the tax and business-law weekly — the 1948 Handelsblatt founding, the 2021 Otto Schmidt publishing home, the 79th volume — Der Betrieb remains the professions' paper: the weekly Pflichtlektüre for Steuerberater, Wirtschaftsprüfer and Fachanwälte, in print every Monday and at der-betrieb.de.