Siemens 2009 Annual Report Download - page 112

24
 Reports Supervisory Board /
Managing Board  Corporate Governance  Management’s discussion and analysis  Consolidated Financial Statements
16 Corporate Governance report 24 Compliance report 28 Compensation report (part of Notes
to Consolidated Financial Statements)
www.siemens.com/compliance
www.siemens.com/corporate-governance
Siemens has been active in most countries around the
world, often for many generations and always with the aim
of becoming a partner of integrity within the societies and
communities in which we operate. A vital prerequisite for
this is compliance with applicable laws and in-house guide-
lines and regulations. In fiscal , we continued to anchor
compliance even more firmly into our business processes
and into our corporate and management culture. We un-
derstand compliance as a fundamental component of in-
tegrity and as a keystone of sustainable management.
Compliance creates the potential for successful development
of businesses and, furthermore, provides a sustainable eco-
nomic and social framework. Eschewing corruption not only
promotes fair competition, but also makes a decisive contribu-
tion to the development of economies and thus to the im-
provement of living conditions and personal development op-
portunities. We also support the fight against corruption out-
side Siemens.
Continuing high priority for compliance
On December 15, 2008, the investigations into non-compliance
with anticorruption laws and accounting regulations against
Siemens in Germany and the U.S. were terminated. Dr. Theo
Waigel, Germany’s Minister of Finance from 1989 to 1998, was
contracted by the U.S. authorities to serve as Compliance
Monitor and to report regularly over the coming years on the
effectiveness of our compliance measures. The Company will
support the Compliance Monitor in his work. In addition to
further improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Com-
pliance Program, our support will be an important part of our
efforts toward sustainability in our compliance measures.
These also include continuing the intensive dialogue with
stakeholders and our external commitment to combating
corruption.
We strive for a shift from a rule-based to a value-based corpo-
rate culture, in which compliance with applicable laws and in-
house guidelines and regulations is understood and lived as a
core element of responsibility and integrity. Therefore, compli-
ance continues to be a high-priority issue within the Company.
Development of the compliance organization
In fiscal 2009, there were around 600 employees in the Com-
pany-wide compliance organization. At the beginning of fiscal
2010, we adapted the supervision of the regional compliance
organization to the changed corporate structure: responsibil-
ity for one or more Clusters now lies with nine so-called (Meta-)
Cluster compliance officers, who report directly to the Chief
Compliance Officer.
Our new compliance officers are required to participate in a
four-day introductory program, which we continued to run
systematically in fiscal 2009. The aim of a global compliance
conference in Germany and regional compliance conferences
in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East held in
2009 was to improve the exchange of Company-wide best-
practice examples and to intensify dialogue within the Com-
pany.
To establish compliance even more firmly than before as a key
pillar of our management and corporate culture, work in the
compliance organization must be understood and managed as
an important step in management careers. For this reason, we
have developed a special Competency Management Program
that is designed to systematically promote the employees
within the compliance organization.
Compliance report