The source check: 7 board numbers you keep hearing
Everyone talks about what a board costs in time and money. Here are the numbers circulating in Denmark right now, and what turns up when you go to the source behind each of them.
"50-130 hours a year for an ordinary member, 200-400 for a chair"
DOES NOT HOLDWhat sits behind it: Interviews with five people from 2013, supplemented by a survey of upper-secondary school boards from 2010. The source itself states that five people are not representative.
"4-5 meetings a year of 2-3 hours plus 1-2 seminars"
DOES NOT HOLDWhat sits behind it: The same five interviews from 2013.
"You need DKK 50m in revenue and 30-40 employees before a board makes sense"
DOES NOT HOLDWhat sits behind it: One audit partner's assessment in an article for the construction industry from around 2017. That is one person's opinion, not a threshold.
"22-40% higher growth with a professional board"
DOES NOT HOLDWhat sits behind it: A vendor blog with no source. The primary source has never been found.
"Two out of three owners without a board fear the time commitment. Among those who HAVE a board, only about one in three experiences it as a problem"
HOLDSWhat sits behind it: CBS Centre for Owner-Managed Businesses, 2026. 3,171 responses collected via Statistics Denmark. The strongest Danish number in this field.
"An ordinary board member in a company with DKK 10-50m in revenue typically receives DKK 50,000-60,000 a year, a chair DKK 75,000-100,000"
HOLDSWhat sits behind it: BoardPartner's Bestyrelsesrapporten 2026. 1,446 responses covering 4,598 Danish boards. Medians per company size are in the table below.
"Boards spend more time than before"
AS A DIRECTION, YES. AS AN HOUR FIGURE, IT DOES NOT EXISTWhat sits behind it: Same report: 53% spent more time than the year before. But the report does not state a single hour figure.
The fee numbers that actually hold (2026, medians per year)
| Company revenue | Ordinary member | Chair |
|---|---|---|
| Under DKK 10m | DKK 30,000 | DKK 65,000 |
| DKK 10-20m | DKK 50,000 | DKK 75,000 |
| DKK 20-50m | DKK 60,000 | DKK 100,000 |
| DKK 50-100m | DKK 60,000 | DKK 135,000 |
| DKK 100-250m | DKK 80,000 | DKK 150,000 |
Source: Bestyrelsesrapporten 2026, BoardPartner. Note two things: fee levels have been flat since 2024 even though time spent has gone up. And about one in three board members feels the fee does not match the workload.
The three questions you can ask about any number
Next time someone tells you what a board costs, demands or delivers, ask:
- 1
What year is the number from?
The hour figure in circulation is from 2013.
- 2
How many people answered?
Five people behind the hour figure. 3,171 behind the CBS number.
- 3
Were they companies like mine?
School boards and the construction industry do not count if you run an owner-managed company with 20 employees.
Three questions, thirty seconds. Most numbers fall on the first one.
Want to run the numbers on your own board?
The fee calculator gives you an indicative level for your company's size, backed by the 2026 figures. And BoardReady helps you get the value out of the board once it is there.
Sources
- BoardPartner — Bestyrelsesrapporten 2026 (1,446 responses)
- CBS, Centre for Owner-Managed Businesses — survey among owner-managers, 2026 (3,171 responses via Statistics Denmark)
- Dagens Dagsorden — Time spent on board work (the source behind 50-130 hours: five interviews, 2013)
- Dagens Byggeri — A board can strengthen the company (the source behind the DKK 50m threshold, c. 2017)