Corporate Governance
Executive Board
The Executive Board is the governing body of SAP. Subject to the requirements of stock corporation law, the Executive Board is committed to SAP's interests and bound by SAP company policy. It provides the Supervisory Board with regular, prompt, and comprehensive reports about all essential issues of business, corporate strategy, and potential risks.
Under German stock corporation law, the Executive Board may comprise one or several members, regardless of the company's size. The Supervisory Board appoints Executive Board members for a maximum of five years, but members can be reappointed.
The compensation of the Executive Board members has three elements: a fixed element (salary), a performance-related element (directors' profit-sharing), and a long-term incentive element (share based compensation). In fiscal year 2008, total Executive Board remuneration amounted to €25,188,300, of which €5,894,600 consisted of fixed elements, and €14,826,500 of performance-related compensation as well as €4,467,200 of regular long-term incentive element.
The SAP Compensation Report contains detailed information about individual Executive Board members' remuneration. Further, please refer to note 27 of the Notes to the Financial Statements in the Annual Report, which explains the stock-based compensation plans.