Abstract

Purpose. This research paper shows which value add measures are used by German DAX 30 corporations in their 2015 annual reports. It explains how different measures like shareholder value, economical value add (EVATM), return on capital employed (ROCE), return on equity (ROE) and others are calculated and how they correlate. Corporate governance has been highly professionalized which clearly shows in the annual reports of all firms. The requirement for “sustainable creation of value” as stated in the German Corporate Governance Codex (Regierungskommision Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, 2015) is made transparent as a core element in the companies’ annual reports. Design. 70% of the DAX 30 firms show value add data and some of them even highlight that value add has been made part of their corporate management approach. In turn this means that 30% of the firms are not showing value add data in a prominent way. The paper focuses on the 70% showing value add data and how EVA, company specific EVA-like measures or ROCE are the most used ones. Findings. The paper shows that ROCE with a factor of 0,97 correlates best with EVA and in absence of an EVA calculation is the best measure to represent value creation. Originality. As part of a dissertation the aim is to develop a best in class measurement system and comparison for corporate governance theoretical and empirical analyses. The paper has been presented at 21st European Scientific Conference of Doctoral Students - PEFnet2017 organized by the Faculty of Business and Economics of Mendel University in Brno, taking place on November 30, 2017 on the campus of Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Authors and Affiliations