how do I fill in board structure in esg questionnaire

Fill in governance structure: composition, roles and oversight

For "governance structure" in an ESG questionnaire, three things are almost always asked: who sits on the board, how oversight is organised, and whether there is a separation between execution and control. For a basic module according to EFRAG VSME, a factual description usually suffices for SMEs: number of board members, whether there is a management board and a supervisory board or board of directors (or, for smaller companies, only a management board), and whether there are independent members. No judgment is requested here about the quality of governance, only a description of the structure as it actually exists.

Reusable in your chain dossier are: the statutory form of governance (Ltd with management board, cooperative, sole proprietorship with advisory board, and so on), names and positions of board members, and any secondary positions relevant to independence. Some questionnaires ask further about diversity on the board (age, gender) — that is a separate data point, not part of the structure description itself. If you do not have those figures, then "not available" is a valid answer; do not invent a composition that does not exist. Questions about exactly who sits on the board and how it is composed come back in almost every questionnaire in a standard formulation — see questionnaire wants to know who is on our board and how it is composed for how that field is usually structured. If there is also a question about oversight of integrity, that often touches on the separate field on policy against bribery and corruption, which is assessed separately from the governance structure.

What this is based on: VSME basic module

The basic module of EFRAG VSME describes governance-related data points as factual, non-evaluative information about the enterprise; the Wwft does not apply here, as it regulates customer due diligence in financial services and money laundering prevention, not the company's own governance reporting. Directive 2022/2464 (CSRD) imposes the reporting obligation on larger, listed companies; for SME suppliers reporting as a response to a customer question, the voluntary VSME basis is the most direct reference point.