The Corporate Finance & Tax/Asset Management department oversees accounting procedures for all of the foundation’s business transactions. It also produces its annual financial statement, including the profit-and-loss report. It ensures that the Bertelsmann Stiftung makes use of its resources in keeping with the foundation’s bylaws, German tax law and the country’s laws governing nonprofit organizations. It is accountable to both the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s governance bodies and public-sector regulatory authorities. Asset Management is responsible for investing the foundation’s liquid assets and overseeing its cash management activities.

A core responsibility of the Corporate Human Resources (HR) department is recruiting and developing motivated employees so they can tackle the challenging tasks required by the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s projects. This includes carrying out the foundation’s annual HR capacity planning, overseeing the ongoing deployment of personnel and implementing HR-related organization development measures. Corporate HR creates HR policies that promote a culture of work, learning and partnership. Moreover, it is responsible for answering all questions relating to employment contracts, workplace conditions and employees’ rights.

The Legal team provides advice and support for all legal issues relating to contracts. It ensures that compliance measures and guidelines are observed.

The members of the Controlling department serve as consultants and advisors for questions relating to budget planning, budget management, project proposals and cost effectiveness. The department provides business analysis and assessments. It also offers assistance when the foundation enters into financial partnerships with other organizations. The Business Intelligence Competence Center develops procedures for carrying out systematic, database-driven data analysis, and it offers support when data migrations occur.

The Corporate IT team provides assistance when technical issues arise relating to workplaces or events. It also serves as an advisor when information systems are being developed. In addition to further developing the foundation’s IT landscape, its responsibilities include coordinating and managing the development of IT systems for individual projects. Corporate IT also oversees IT security at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

The Corporate Services department provides various types of in-house support. Its core responsibilities are facility management, property services, strategic procurement and the main Service Desk.