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As a resolution of the Board of Directors meeting held in December 2015, Fujitsu established the " Corporate Governance Policy'' to define the company's basic stance on corporate governanace. The policy set out a framework of Fujitsu's corporate governance structure as follows;
The company outlines the following rules to ensure the effective oversight and advice from a diverse perspective of Non-Executive Directors (hereinafter, the term used for the combination of Independent Directors and Non-Executive Directors appointed from within the company) to Executive Directors on their business execution as part of the Board of Directors function while taking advantage of the company with the Audit & Supervisory Board system:
The Company has a Board of Directors to serve as a body for making important decisions and overseeing management. The Board of Directors delegates the decision-making authority over business execution to the Representative Directors and subordinate Corporate Executive Officers to the broadest extent that is permitted by law and the Articles of Incorporation of the company and is considered to be reasonable and will mainly perform as oversight and advisory function. Moreover, the oversight function of the Board of Directors has been strengthened by actively appointing External Directors with high independence and diverse perspective.
Furthermore, in order to better define the management responsibility of the Directors, their terms were reduced from two years to one year in accordance with a resolution at the June 23, 2006 Annual Shareholders' Meeting.
The Board of Directors is comprised of 10 members in total: 4 Executive Directors and 6 Non-Executive Directors (including 4 External Directors and two of them are women).
The Company has an Audit & Supervisory Board that performs the auditing and oversight functions. The auditing and oversight functions are carried out by Audit & Supervisory Board Members, who review the Board of Directors as well as business execution functions and attend important meetings, including meetings of the Board of Directors.
The Audit & Supervisory Board has five members, comprising two full-time Audit & Supervisory Board Members and three external Audit & Supervisory Board Members.
The Company has established the Executive Nomination Committee and the Compensation Committee as advisory bodies for its Board of Directors to ensure the transparency and objectivity of its process for nominating Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board Members and its process for determining executive compensation as well as to ensure the fairness of the method and level of executive compensation.
The Executive Nomination Committee deliberates about candidates for Director and Audit & Supervisory Board Member positions in accordance with the Framework of Corporate Governance Structure and the Procedures and Policy of Directors and Auditors Nomination stipulated in the Company's Corporate Governance Policy and provides its recommendations to the Board of Directors. In addition, the Compensation Committee provides its recommendations about the level of base compensation and the method for calculating performance-based compensation to the Board of Directors in accordance with the Procedures and Policy of Determining Directors and Auditors Compensation stipulated in the Company's Corporate Governance Policy.
According to the Corporate Governance Policy, each committee is composed of a majority of Non-Executive Directors and Auditors with at least one Independent Director. In fiscal 2017, each committee consists of three Non-Executive Directors and Auditors (including two Independent Director) and one Executive Director.
Both Committee's members in fiscal 2017 are as follows.
Chairman of both Committees: Tatsuzumi Furukawa
Members of both Committees: Jun Yokota Masami Yamamoto, and Chiaki Mukai
After the selection of the above committee members in July 2017, the Executive Nomination Committee met 6 times by the end of fiscal 2017. The Executive Nomination Committee discussed the election of Representative Directors, the election of Directors, etc. and provided its recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Compensation Committee met in May 2018..
In response to the requirements of Japan’s Corporate Governance Code, which facilitates the activities of Independent Directors and Auditors, and in order to invigorate discussions on the medium- to long-term direction of the company at its Board of Directors Meetings, the Company believes it essential to establish a system enabling Independent Directors and Auditors, who maintain a certain degree of separation from the execution of business activities, to consistently gain a deeper understanding of the Company’s business. Based on this recognition, the Company established the Independent Directors and Auditors Council. In the Independent Directors and Auditors Council, members discuss the medium- to long-term direction of the company and share information and exchange viewpoints so that they can each formulate their own opinions.
In fiscal 2017, the Independent Directors and Auditors Council met 6 times. The members shared information and exchanged viewpoints on the Company’s management direction, human resources development, the scope of business of the Company and of the Fujitsu Group, etc. and the Council provided advice to the Board of Directors based on the knowledge of its members.
We believe that both direct oversight to business execution by the Non-Executive Directors and the oversight by Audit & Supervisory Board Members that stays distant from the decision making and operation of business execution should work jointly to ensure highly effective oversight performance. The company adopts “the company with Audit & Supervisory Board system” that establishes the Audit & Supervisory Board, which is composed of the Audit & Supervisory Board Members appointed as an independent agent.
The Board of Directors comprises same number or more Non-Executive Directors as Executive Directors to ensure its capacity to correct faulty, insufficient, or excessive business executions. While External Directors should be the core of Non-Executive Directors on account of their high independence, at least one Non-Executive Director is appointed from within the company to complement the External Directors’ knowledge in the business fields and the corporate culture of the company so that the efficiency of oversight performance by the Non-Executive Directors are enhanced.
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Compensation of Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board Members is determined in accordance with the Executive Compensation Policy below, which was determined by the Board of Directors following the recommendation by the Compensation Committee.
To secure exceptional human resources required to manage the Fujitsu Group as a global ICT company, and to further strengthen the link between its financial performance and shareholder value, while at the same time improving its transparency, Fujitsu establishes its Executive Compensation Policy as follows.
Executive compensation is comprised of the following: “Base Compensation,” specifically a fixed monthly salary in accordance with position and responsibilities; “Performance-based Stock Compensation,” which is a long-term incentive that emphasizes a connection to shareholder value; and “Bonuses” that are compensation linked to short-term business performance.
Base compensation is paid to all Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board Members. A fixed monthly amount shall be determined for each executive in accordance with the position and responsibilities of each executive.
In accordance with the resolution of the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, the total amount of Base Compensation and Bonuses (monetary compensation) for Directors shall not exceed 600 million yen per year, Performance-linked Compensation (non-monetary compensation) shall not exceed 300 million yen per year, and the total number of shares to be allocated shall not exceed 430,000 shares per year. The Base Compensation for Audit & Supervisory Board Members shall not exceed 150 million yen per year.
Category | Basic Compensation | Bonuses | Performance-based Stock
Compensation |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Management Oversight Portion | Business Execution Portion | |||
Directors | ○ | - | - | - |
Executive Directors | ○ | ○ | ○ | ○ |
Audit & Supervisory Board Members | ○ | - | - |
To continuously increase the corporate value of the Fujitsu Group, it is necessary to pursue management efficiency and control risks arising from business activities. Recognizing this, Fujitsu is working toward the practice and penetration of the FUJITSU Way, the basic principles behind the Fujitsu Group's conduct. At the same time, the Board of Directors has articulated the Policy on Internal Control Framework as systems and rules to pursue management efficiency and control the risks arising from the Company's business activities.
The Policy on the Internal Control System sets forth internal structures of the Fujitsu Group, including the following.
By dividing the management execution authority of the President & Representative Director, who is the chief executive officer, among the corporate executive officers, and by establishing a Management Council to assist in the President and Representative Director's decision-making, the Company aims to enhance management effectiveness.
In addition, the framework makes clear that the President & Representative Director bears responsibility for the construction and operation of an internal control framework, and the Board of Directors shall fulfill its oversight responsibility by appropriately examining the operation of the internal control framework.
The Company shall establish a Risk Management & Compliance Committee, and in addition to preparing systems to control the overall risk of financial losses of the Fujitsu Group, the Company shall also prepare systems for managing risks pertaining to defects and failures in products and services, as well as systems for managing contracted development projects, information security, and financial risk.
Primarily through the Risk & Management Compliance Committee, the Company shall promote the preparation of the internal rules, education, and oversight systems required for compliance with the Code of Conduct set forth by the FUJITSU Way, and also with laws and regulations concerning the business activities of the Fujitsu Group.
The Company shall also prepare management systems to ensure the appropriateness of financial reporting, as well as systems for information disclosure and internal auditing.
The Policy on the Internal Control System and the Overview of the Status of Operation of the System
http://www.fujitsu.com/global/Images/notice118b.pdf
The status of operation of the internal control system centering on the above is periodically reported to the Board of Directors.
Corporate Governance Report (As of January 11, 2019)
http://www.fujitsu.com/global/documents/about/ir/library/governance/governancereport20190111-en.pdf