SAP SE — Ethics Grade C

SAP SE receives an overall ethics grade of C (48/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Technology. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 70
• privacy: 40
• consumer: 45
• environment: 75
• humanRights: 55

Documented incidents (3)

• Foreign Bribery Fine (high, 2024) — SAP agreed to pay $220 million to resolve investigations by the DOJ and SEC into bribery of government officials in South Africa and Indonesia. The scheme involved using third-party intermediaries to conceal illegal payments.
• Indirect Access Fees (medium, 2018) — The company faced intense criticism and legal action for 'indirect access' licensing practices, where customers were charged additional millions for accessing SAP data via non-SAP software. Critics called it rent-seeking behavior.
• Cloud Security Flaws (medium, 2020) — Significant security vulnerabilities were discovered in SAP's cloud-based solutions, potentially exposing sensitive corporate data to unauthenticated remote attackers. Patches were hurriedly deployed after public pressure.

Documented good deeds

• Autism at Work Program — One of the first tech giants to implement a global neurodiversity hiring program, aiming for 1% of its workforce to be on the autism spectrum.

Ethical alternatives

• Workday, Inc. — Better workplace culture scores and more transparent pricing structures for cloud ERP.