1. September 2009 | Ausgabe 6 | 01450-5900 | www.controllermagazin.de
spezial
CONTROLLER
®
Controlling
International
Controllers meet growing challenges
Siegfried Gänßlen, Chairman Stefan Kaiser: Controller statements Poland: Controlling in
of the ICV: Internationalization worldwide – an analysis of national hard times – taglines of
success continues controller institutes practicians
2. Unternehmensplanung
und -steuerung mit Weitblick
I Planung
I Budgetierung
I Analyse
I Reporting
I Konsolidierung
I strategische Unternehmenssteuerung
I Balanced Scorecard
I Risikomanagement
Get a better perspective –
Navigate your company to success
I Planning
I Budgeting
I Analysis
I Reporting
I Consolidation
I Strategic Company Management
I Balanced Scorecard
I Risk Management
www.corporate-planning.com
CP CORPORATE PLANNING AG
Große Elbstraße 27 · D-22767 Hamburg ·Tel. +49 (0)40 / 43 13 33 - 0 · Fax +49 (0)40 / 43 13 33 - 33
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3. Content
2 Siegfried Gänßlen Dear reader,
Chairman of the ICV board
Editorial
what we experience nowadays is a growing
3 Know-how
controller community ... world wide. Due to our
Controller statements worldwide
cultural backgrounds, habits and experiences
6 Know-how are different. Controlling is done in a slightly or
Deyhle’s controlling goes international even totally different way. Some ways will be
8 Romania more, others less successful.
Controlling – the solution to overcoming
the economic crisis in Romania We controllers have a common target though:
Increase our companys’ success (short and
10 Lithuania long term), by providing service to the man-
Conceptions and instruments agement!
12 Poland
Controlling in hard times – taglines Manager Controller
Controlling
of practicians
14 Czech Republic
Controlling careers in the Czech Republic
16 Russia So I see that valuable opportunity, sharing
The theory and practice of controlling some of these experiences ... on how to achieve
in conditions of crisis the goals best.
18 Hungary
“Navigating heavy seas in the Variety is the spice of life
Carpathian Basin”
Different strategies will help in different situa-
20 Slovenia
tions. I believe, that one is not more successful
It‘s time to meet the challenges
because he has the best strategy, but because
of controlling!
he or she can select from different strategic
22 Bulgaria
options, behaviour patterns, etc. That way
“Need and desire to learn is enormous”
perfectly responding to the situation one is fa-
24 Estonia
cing.
Controlling in a downturn –
the case of Estonia
Sharing these experiences means learning
from each other. The good thing about infor-
Impressum
Controller Magazin Spezial ist ein Spezialheft der Fachzeit-
mation is, that it grows when you share it.
schrift Controller Magazin und erscheint 2 bis 4 Mal im Jahr.
ISSN 1616-0495, Bestell-Nr. 5001, Postvertrieb: E 12688
Herausgeber Controller Magazin, Dr. Klaus Eiselmayer
I am glad to support the International Controller
Verlag Verlag für ControllingWissen AG Association (ICV) by publishing this Controller
Münchner Str. 10, 82237 Wörthsee
Tel. 01 80 / 91 31 24 | Fax 01 80 / 91 31 74 Magazin Spezial and say thanks to all the con-
info@controllingwissen.de, www.controllingwissen.de trollers, editors, designers helping to get it
Eingetragen im Handelsregister Freiburg i.Br. HRB
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Anzeigen Haufe Fachmedia GmbH & Co. KG, Im Kreuz 9,
97076 Würzburg, www.haufe-fachmedia.de Wish you success in controlling
Anzeigenleitung Bernd Junker, Tel.: 09 31 / 27 91-556
E-Mail: bernd.junker@haufe-fachmedia.de
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Editor of Controller Magazin
Redaktion Hans-Peter Sander, hp.sander@eastwestcom.net
Gestaltung deyhledesign Werbeagentur GmbH, Gauting CEO – Verlag für ControllingWissen AG
www.deyhledesign.de
Trainer & Partner – Controller Akademie AG
Bildnachweis Titel Fotolia, Inhalt Fotolia
Druck Bosch-Druck GmbH, Ergolding
1
4. Internationalization
ICV
success continues
Well-known and respected in German-speaking countries, controlling has been
decisively shaped by Dr. Dr. h. c. Albrecht Deyhle and the International
Controller Association (ICV). The key aim of ICV’s internationalization strategy
is to root this controlling philosophy in neighboring countries.
ICV has made further progress over the past working group leaders and their management
months; growth and consolidation are the order of teams. I should like to take this opportunity to thank
the day, internationalization has been embedded you all very much for your magnificent, voluntary
in the association’s business plan for the coming commitment.
years. With the foundation of the first working Besides further personal memberships, ICV is also
group in Slovenia in March 2008, ICV is now ac- seeking cooperation and corporate memberships
tive in twelve countries. Poland is now abreast of in the “new countries” where entire teams, especial-
Germany, Austria and Switzerland with eleven re- ly from the controlling or financial sectors will bene-
gional working groups and the annual “Control- fit from the expertise transfer in the association.
Siegfried Gänßlen ling Intelligence Advantage” conference. Another development field is establishing contacts
Chairman of the International
to academics and university teachers. With their
Controller Association (ICV)
A key element of internationalization is exchan- help, the ICV concept of sustainable controlling is
ging products and experiences both within the va- to be discussed, developed and disseminated: The
rious countries and across borders. ICV supports ICV seeks their expertise for the academic under-
the development of local controlling expertise with pinning of its philosophy. And, as in the German-
a range of activities. This benefits both corporate speaking countries, the association offers acade-
global players with their expansion in Europe and mics and teaching staff a further benefit: access to
regional and local companies. The association’s business practice and project support.
declared aim is also to increase the individual be-
nefits for personal members by allowing them to This second issue of the “Controlling International”
expand their knowledge, network and problem- supplement reflects the successful internationaliza-
solver skills with ICV. tion of the ICV in recent months. The reports from
Creating a common language base is the prerequi- the nine Central and Eastern European countries
site for improving the integration of non-German focus on the growing challenges confronting con-
speaking members in the organization. This is why trollers as a result of the financial crisis. In doing
ICV translates its main publications for controllers so, the important contribution by controllers to-
outside German-speaking regions into English or, wards shaping a successful future is emphatically
from case to case, in the respective national langu- underscored.
age. International ICV conferences in Lithuania,
Estonia, Poland and Russia have already been
conducted on a multilingual basis. The ICV website
is multilingual.
Association managers play an important role in all Siegfried Gänßlen
ICV countries. Our organization should therefore Chairman of the ICV board
continuously improve its support especially to these CEO Hansgrohe AG
2 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
5. Controller statements
Know-how
worldwide
In the course of globalization, the number of multi- analysis of textbooks. Contrary to this traditional
national corporations has increased constantly course of action, the basis of our study is an analy-
over recent decades. Whereas in 1980 only sis of controller statements of different national
17,000 multinational corporations existed world- controller institutes. A “controller institute” is a pro-
wide, this number had risen to 70,000 multinatio- fessional association which has members from
nal firms in 2004. These corporations are rarely corporations, public administrations and non-profit
managed only via the corporate headquarters in organizations. The main goal of a controller insti-
their home country. Instead often the management tute is to connect and to support its members.
team of a subsidiary is in charge of the respective “Controller statements” are comprehensive guide-
country itself. However, national headquarters of- lines on how to understand the role of the control-
ten manage their responsibilities based on a diffe- ler. These statements are issued by the national
rent philosophy than the corporate headquarters controller institute. In our study more than 20 con-
and the management teams in other countries do. troller institutes from all over the world were analy-
To disregard these national singularities in the ma- zed. The gathered insights were derived mostly
nagement system can therefore cause risky misin- from the websites of the particular organizations.
terpretations and false estimations. This fact guarantees that the identified controller
statements are adequately spread in the corre-
sponding country. However, it does not ensure that
Comparative Management these published statements are really transferred
Accounting as a starting point into the organizations.
Since the mid-nineties the comparative manage-
ment accounting research deals with controlling on Two basic models
an international level. Relevant research has been
conducted for example by Stoffel, Bhimani or Hoff- Figure 1: Two basic models
jan. Traditional research methods include the ana- The analysis of the controller institutes revealed
lysis of research trends, the execution of empirical that nearly all of the institutes can be grouped un-
investigations and the der one of the following two basic models (see fig.
Figure 1
1). The “German” model is mostly
2 models driven by the members of the “Inter-
national Group of Controlling
„German model“ „Anglo-American model“
(IGC)” and here especially by the
“Internationaler Controller Verein
in particular strategic decision mainly operational
Controllers support for the management responsibilites including
(ICV)”. According to this model the
tasks accounting and tax
controller performs strategic decisi-
controller does controllership missing dichotomy between
Relation
between
and thereby supports manager controlling and controllership on support for the management.
in performing controlling tasks isolation of controlling /
controller management accounting from Here, a clear separation between
and the management
manager controlling as a process and control-
convergence
ling as a function is being made.
Within the “Anglo-American” mo-
1
del, especially at the “Institute of
3
6. Management Accountants (IMA)” and the “Char- close to the “German” approach. However, as in
tered Institute of Management Accountants (CI- the past decades the controller statements in these
MA)”, the controller had in the past mostly operati- two countries were strongly influenced by the gov-
onal responsibilities, including duties in financial ernment, the market power of the dominant ap-
reporting and taxes. Because of this high number proach is significantly higher than in Germany.
of operational responsibilities, the Anglo-Ameri-
can management accountant is to be seen in the Figure 2: Overview of controller statements in
organizational hierarchy further away from the top different nations
management than in the “German” model. How- In addition to the regular x- and y-axes, our figure
ever, in recent years a convergence of these ap- shows another abscissa and ordinate. These addi-
Stefan Kaiser is a research proaches is evident. The German model of a con- tional axes are only relevant for the well-devel-
associate at the Internatio- troller is increasingly presented as best-practice in oped controller approaches. With the help of the
nal Performance Research
American journals. Just recently, the controller second abscissa, the strategic focus of the control-
Institute (IPRI). His explatory
focus lies in the field of in- statement of the American IMA was redesigned ler can be related to the uncertainty avoidance in-
ternational controlling stand- and now presents the American controller as the dex. This criterion can be traced back to the re-
ards, evaluation of RFID in- business partner of the management, converting search done by Hofstede concerning the cultural
vestments and cost-benefit-
clearly to the “German” model. dimensions of societies. According to his results,
sharing models.
Germans usually tend to have a detailed plan of
the future, whereas Americans or British can more
Clusters of different national easily cope with uncertainties. This circumstance
controller institutes could explain why the strategic focus in the “Ger-
Literature: man” approach is stronger than in the “Anglo-
Amat, O.; Blake, J.; To classify all of the reviewed controller institutes American” approach. The second ordinate inter-
Wraith, P. (2000): we created the matrix shown in figure 2. On the estingly shows that in countries where there is a
Environmental Factors ordinate you can see the market power of the re- strong sense of community, the market power of
giving rise to variations
spective controller institute in its country. High the controller institute is significantly higher than in
in national management
accounting practice, market power means that controllers need to be a other cases.
working paper # 432. member of the relevant controller institute in order
Bhimani, A. (1996):
to be a respected member of their profession. The This study was conducted at the International Per-
Management Accounting: strategic focus of the controller institutes is dis- formance Research Institute (IPRI) and financially
European perspectives, played on the abscissa. You can see the already- supported by the Péter Horváth Foundation and the
Oxford 1996. explained clusters around the German ICV and the International Group of Controlling IGC. The entire
Brewer, P. (2008): Anglo-American institutes. In addition, as regards document can be requested at www.ipri-institute.
Redefining Management content, France and Spain are evidently rather com. A PDF version is available free of charge.
Accounting, in: Strategic
Finance 03/2008, Figure 2
S.27-34.
different nations
Hoffjan, A. (2008): Low Uncertainty Avoidance High Uncertainty Avoidance
Comparative Management High market
power
Accounting – Vergleich des
anglo-amerikanischen Ma- Strong sense of
nagement Accounting und community
des deutschen Controllings,
in: Controlling, 20.Jg.
*Dimension of the flag
12/2008, S.655-661. indicates stage of
development of the
respective institute
Hofstede, G. (2006):
Lokales Denken, globales
Handeln. Interkulturelle Weak sense of
Zusammenarbeit und globa- community
les Management, 3. Aufl.
München 2006.
Low market power
Stoffel, K. (1995): Control-
lership im internationalen Operational focus,
accounting
Strategic focus, management
accounting
Vergleich, Wiesbaden
1995. 2
4 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
8. Know-how
Deyhle’s c
goes inter
It’s twenty years ago since Dr. Dr. h.c. Albrecht Last June we had 23 participants from 14 different
Deyhle, the founder of the Controller Akademie countries in our Stage II seminar. They came from
AG, and of our ICV, and his first partner, Dr Alfred Mexico and Western Europe, from the most recent
Blazek, started wondering how the European Uni- EU member states, from Lithuania to Rumania, from
on might affect the work of controllers and conse- Russia – there were two from Shanghai. They all
quently of the Controller Academy. They soon rea- got to know each other. They had come here, to
lised that it would lead to further international ra- Lake Starnberg, to discover the common standard
mifications, first within Europe, but later further of controlling – unity in variety. And they all agreed
afield. that here we practise “state of the art” controlling,
followers of the controlling pioneer, Dr. Dr. h.c.
So there were two new challenges facing Financial Albrecht Deyhle. The international network, lea-
Dipl.-Ing. Dietmar Pascher Controllers. Firstly, the controlling philosophy ding to exchanges with expert colleagues, plays a
Controller Akademie AG would be bound to spread abroad as German, big part, along with the technical components.
www.controllerakademie.
Swiss and Austrian enterprises entered the interna- Our Eastern European colleagues in particular use
de/international
tional sphere and established a harmonised atti- us as a first approach to controlling as practised in
tude to controlling throughout the concerns they Central Europe, as an alternative and supplement
were associated with. Secondly, the controllers in to Anglo-American Accounting. A participant from
the parent company would need to bring their IKEA Poland told us they had christened her de-
command of the English language up to scratch. partment “Business Navigation”, in order to avoid
future confusion arising from the word
This immediately led to the decision to offer the control.
Controller Akademie‘s successful diploma course
in English. So in March 1992 the first Stage I semi-
nar was held in English, in the presence of our En-
glish Language coach, David Gill. Even German-
speaking controllers attended it, who wanted to
polish up their English and acquire the necessary
technical terms, so as to be able to communicate
better with their clients.
Now the entire Diploma Programme (5 levels) is
presented in English by Dr. Klaus Eiselmayer and
Dietmar Pascher.
In the course of many years an international com-
Controllers Song written by
munity has developed, which we like to call the
the last Stage II participants
“English Family”. The many different nationalities and performed with the
involved have led to an incredible enrichment of music of The Killers: Are we
the work. humans, are we dancers?
6 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
9. 23 participants from
ontrolling
14 countries attended the
Stage II seminar last June.
national
What was your personal or your company‘s ben-
efit of attending our Diploma Program (in the
English language)?
Jan Šulc:
Manager Financial Controlling, Continental,
Chassis & Safety Division, Plant Jičín, Hradecká
So, piece by piece, the ICV’s approach to control-
1092, 506 01 Jičín
ling is carried out into the wide world by every in-
dividual participant, who works as an “Ambassa- Experience exchange and discussions about sys-
dor for Controlling” in his or her enterprise. And tems, processes and behaviour or habits in other
we note that these controllers simultaneously move companies whose members attended CA is the
up the international career ladder step by step. first what I call to mind. This in combination with
very good training sessions of CA enriched and
And it is precisely in this climb that we wish you
enlarged my personnel “data bank” of possible
ways, tools how to control a business, company
Happy Controlling! (or family) and as well various ways of behaviour
which could by applied in business but as well in
private life.
Attending CA uncovered also some my weak-
nesses but as well strengths and it helped me later
in my work.
The way of execution of training applied by CA
trainees and method of presentation is “saved” in
Controller Song my memory. This experience help me in a prepa-
ration and carrying out of training or presentation
within own company or outside the company.
Adrian Lacatus:
Finance Manager, Heidi Chocolates Suisse SA,
Bucharest, Romania
I have finished in 2 1/2 years one of the best
controlling programs in English language. I’ve
especially liked the detailed preparation of every
aspect of the program.
Personal benefits:
• I’ve learned fast relevant theory backed by
genuine business experiences;
• Had the chance to mingle with people from
different countries, companies, with different
profiles;
Company benefits:
• Have a proper trained controller able to
challenge change within the organisation;
• Bring in fresh ideas from other companies’
experiences;
7
10. Romania
Controlling – the solution to overcoming
the economic crisis in Romania
The worldwide economic crisis is nowhere near the end – it is getting worse
and Romanian companies are suffering from it.
Most of them are confronted with a dramatic fall in will be those who know how to make use of these
demand and sales, a situation which leads to finan- chances. The advantage will be on the side of the
cial and economic constraints. The enterprises companies which have implemented a controlling
which have been granted loans for development or system, because this can present the management
other purposes are now unable to pay them back, not only with risks, but also opportunities.
not to mention the difficulty of paying their debts to
the distributors. Unfortunately, Romanian companies have not im-
plemented a controlling system so far and conse-
The Romanian companies are presently lacking the quently they are now being confronted with pro-
necessary resources for paying off their debts; fa- blems which the Romanian subsidiaries of internati-
cing the pressure of the creditors, they increase the onal corporations do not have. The Romanian
pressure on their own debtors so that they can cash enterprises lack internal transparency and a clear
their receivables – and thus we are experiencing a image of their costs. The situation in the Romanian
chain reaction which mostly affects the banks and subsidiaries with a controller or an entire controlling
the car, telecommunication and industrial-goods in- department is very different.
dustries. A lot of companies are close to bankrupt-
cy, so that a great number of Romanians will lose So we are dealing with two situations. On the one
their jobs. Against this background the question side there are the Romanian businesses which have
arises: What is the solution to overcoming the crisis? not noticed the necessity of controlling yet, which
Associate Professor
Valentina OARG PhD
are not so eager to implement a cost discipline and
whose staff are not yet ready for such a rigorous
Controlling & Human Resour-
ces Management, West Uni-
The importance of controlling system as controlling. On the other side there are
versity of Timișoara, Faculty in times of crisis the corporation subsidiaries familiar with control-
of Economics and Business ling. So we can only talk about controlling in Roma-
Administration, Department Is controlling really the solution to overcoming the nia in the context of subsidiaries, most of which are
of Management
crisis? We think it is, because in times of crisis the in Bucharest and in the west of the country. We
companies are more open to new solutions than consider that it is precisely in these times of crisis
ever and thus more open to controlling. The crisis that it is imperative for the Romanian enterprises to
also offers opportunities; the winners of the crisis turn to controlling.
8 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
11. Unternehmensplanung
und -steuerung mit Weitblick
Both the operative and the strategic
controlling need to be implemented
I Planung
in order to prove that they repre- I Budgetierung
sent the tool oriented towards
I Analyse
solving situations of crisis, ensur-
ing the sustainability of a compa- I Reporting
ny and looking towards the future. I Konsolidierung
The role of the controller has
gained in importance against the
I strategische Unternehmenssteuerung
background of the economic crisis, I Balanced Scorecard
as everybody is paying great atten- I Risikomanagement
tion to cost reduction. If in times of
economic growth the permanent increase in reve-
nues, which has been especially high in Romania,
led to a general euphoria resulting from a growth in Get a better perspective –
profits and nobody thought about optimizing costs, Navigate your company to success
now the cost control has become a matter of survival. I Planning
It is precisely now, in the present context of decreas- I Budgeting
ing revenues, high financing costs, the need to re- I Analysis
duce costs, an unpredictable business environment
I Reporting
calling for more forecasts, scenarios and budgets,
that the great role of the controller can be easily I Consolidation
understood. I Strategic Company Management
The number of reports and their frequency is grow-
ing. The managers are much more interested in
I Balanced Scorecard
analyzing them than they were before. It is now I Risk Management
more than ever that the focus is lying on keeping a
tight hand over costs and on cutting costs where
possible. But in order to take the decision of cutting
costs, first of all one needs strict evidence of them.
So in short: The future of the company will be decid-
ed on the basis of the reports generated by control-
lers.
By means of its instruments and methods, control-
ling is a system able to offer solutions to prevent or
combat the effects of the crisis. The following
aspects give evidence in this respect:
• Controlling offers ideas for improving the activi-
ties of the company, which can be implemented
immediately, as well as organizational solutions
for the medium and the long run in order to ena-
ble the company overcome times of crisis
• Controllers are aware of the weak points which
need special attention
• Controlling offers better documentation and
substantiation of decisions and a correct
estimation of risks CP CORPORATE PLANNING AG
• Controlling supports the elimination of losses Große Elbstraße 27 · D - 22767 Hamburg
and the increase in performance. Tel. +49 (0)40 / 43 13 33 - 0 · Fax +49 (0)40 / 43 13 33 - 33
Info@corporate-planning.com · www.corporate-planning.com
Amsterdam • Barcelona • Berlin • Düsseldorf • Frankfurt • Hamburg • Hannover
Kaiserslautern • London • Malmö • München • Stuttgart •Toronto • Wien • Zürich
12. Controlling in Lithuania:
Conceptions and
Lithuania
instruments
Two years ago when controlling workshops in Lithuania were just starting, the
first question to arise was what controlling meant. Is it about control or about
performance measurement, or about management?
Most of the participants understood what strategy, sis show that in most cases controlling is associ-
balanced scorecard, and budgeting were. They ated with control and management accounting,
did it in their everyday life but they did not call it in planning, and measurement. Analysis of signifi-
such a way. Aiming to spread the idea of control- cance in different management levels disclosed the
ling in Lithuania, the pioneers of the controlling difference of opinions. Non-controllers handle
group were faced with the problem of finding out management accounting as significant in the stra-
how people understood it. Pilot research which led tegic management level, and controllers in the
to the disclosure of the essence of controlling from operational level. Analysis of tools leads to the
the perspective of conception, functions, signifi- conclusion that instruments for management ac-
cance in different management levels and tools counting and controlling are the same. Summariz-
was performed. Respondents were divided into ing those results, it could be maintained that con-
two groups: Those who preferred themselves as trolling is a process the methodological basis of
controllers and those who did not. Results were which are management accounting tools.
compared from the perspectives of conceptions,
Dr. Edita Gimžauskien, functions, significance in different management le- Recent fashions of management accounting are
Kaunas University of Technol- vels, and tools of management accounting and activity-based costing and balanced scorecard.
ogy, Deputy Leader of ICV
controlling. Looking from the perspective of the 1990s, they
working group Lithuania
are not so new. But anyway, the world hasn’t got
Analysis of the conceptions allowed us to ascertain anything more fashionable in the field of manage-
that management accounting is interpreted as an ment accounting. The Lithuanian experience, while
informational methodical, analytical system. At the implementing those modern techniques, is not so
same time, controlling is a less determined object, different from other companies in the world. Peculi-
the main function of which is coordination. The arities of this experience could be pointed out from
“Lithuanian organizations
opinions of “controllers” and “non-controllers” the perspectives of implementation level, disclosure
use the terms management were different. “Non-controllers” know more about of the main conceptual idea and functionality.
accounting and controlling management accounting and, accordingly, attri-
in parallel. Modern manage- butes of more clearly-defined management areas. Modern management conceptions influence value
ment accounting tools are
Controllers argue that the role of management ac- creation for shareholders, employees and custo-
a precondition for effective
controlling but it depends counting is more informational. mers when generated information supports ma-
on how the essence of those nagement decisions. On the other hand, the imple-
tools are understood and Controllers have a clearly-defined understanding mentation of a modern management accounting
realized in particular orga-
of what controlling and management accounting conception does not ensure its substantiation and
nization and how they are
integrated into decision- are. Non-controllers are not so assertive. Functions application. The information is suitable for deci-
making processes.” of management accounting and controlling analy- sion-making when conceptual principles of the sys-
10 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
13. Members of the ICV
working group Lithuania,
2009.
tem really work in an organization. The declarati- The implementation of a theoretically descriptive “In this chart you can see
on that an organization had fully or partly imple- method of management accounting in practice that adopters of ACB more
frequently measure perform-
mented the conception does not mean that it is does not automatically imply its incorporation into
ance in a wider range of
true. The question is whether adopters and users of decision-making processes. There are cases when activities than non-adopters.
the system understand the main idea and princi- organizations which have implemented such tech- In some cases the implemen-
ples of the system, and whether they have succee- niques do not manage fully all their capacities. In tation level was declared
but not really working. On
ded with the realization of it in practice. The pro- such situations the management accounting sys-
the other hand, the results
blem is to find out in which cases the declaration tems become ends in themselves, not means to an suggest that there are or-
about systems implementation remains a declarati- end. On the other hand, the question is whether this ganizations which measure
on, and which factors show that the systems (AB- information is accurate, relevant and suitable for costs and performance
in prime and supporting
CM or BSC) really work. decision-making in different management areas.
activities but do not declare
ABCM implementation.”
The survey covered a total sample of over 200 or- According to the results it can be maintained that
ganizations in Lithuania. Ninety completed questi- information generated with the help of manage-
onnaires were suitable for future analysis. Most of ment accounting concepts (ABCM or BSC) in Lithu-
the respondents were small or medium-sized orga- anian organizations assists traditional manage-
nizations. 48% of the respondents that took part in ment areas: Problems identification solution (43%)
the research have been active in the market for ten and communication with shareholders (42%). It is
or more years, and 39% from five to ten years. This logical that respondents don’t see management
parameter shows that the practice of management accounting as a means for communication with
accounting and performance measurement is stea- government institutions and controllers (4%) (they
dy enough. Furthermore, more than half of the re- have financial accounting for this purpose). This
spondents indicated that their turnover in the last information does not serve as a background for
year had grown by 50% or more. Fast growth re- incentive and motivation systems and communica-
flects changes in the structures and processes of an tion between managers and employees (about
organization. 24%). The situation of strategic planning is better,
because about 35% of respondents accept the role
The first variable measured was the implementa- of management accounting and performance
Measurement of activities in
tion level of ABC and BSC. About 38% of the re- measurement process for strategy creation, harmo-
value chain
spondents were adopters of ABC. The rest (62%) nization with mission, vision, values and adjust- Spearman’s R 0.467 Signifi-
either knew about ABCM, but have not attempted ment to short- and long-term tasks. cance at .00 levels
to implement it, or did not know about it at all. The
BSC conception has been implemented in only 13
companies (14.4%).
The main conceptual idea of ABC is the measure-
ment of costs and performance in each part of an
organization’s value chain. It can be presumed
that if an organization measures the costs and
performance in its prime activities but does not in
its supporting activities, it means that the idea of
ABC was not properly understood and implemen-
ted. That is the case where the implementation le-
Figure 1
vel of ABC is merely declarative.
11
14. 3rd International Controllers’ Congress
Poland
Controlling in hard times –
In times when black clouds gather above many companies, there is a growing
awareness of how important it is to create a sustainable business value. These
difficult times will certainly become a turning point for the development of the
financial sphere and in particular for the Polish controlling.
Proof in this respect is the impressive number of performance could also be noticed in the speech
participants at the 3rd International Controllers’ of Paweł Kiełczykowski, CFO of Schenker Sp. z
Congress (18–19 June 2009 in Poznań, Poland), o.o., as well as in that of Aled R Wynne-Joyce, a
which was organized by the Internationaler Con- BPP trainer in London in charge of such training as
troller Verein. The interesting discussions of control- CIMA and ACCA, who additionally presented an
ling practicians, financial directors, consultants innovative approach to the salary system for em-
and experts provided excellent guidelines for con- ployees involved in the inflow of receivables from
trollers in many companies during the stormy times. the contractors. A practical model of such analyses
Of course, there were numerous presentations to was presented by Rafał Wilczyński, the Controlling
depict the experience and difficulties in the control- Director of ROHLIG POLAND Sp. z o.o. Bogusław
Edyta Szarska, ICV Delegate ling field within the financial and banking sector, Krawczyk, the Manager & Advisory from KPMG;
Poland, Controlling Partner, which is regarded as the cause of the economic he referred to a possibility of improving the opera-
Warsaw
difficulties all over the world. ting performance using the example of IT depart-
Building controlling from the scratch and the rela- ments. The pursuit of different solutions in receiva-
ted difficulties and successes were the subject of a bles management was the topic of Dariusz Szulc
lecture delivered by Witold Skrok, the Managing from Coface Poland Credit Management Services
Director of Alior Bank S.A. Impressive ideas and Sp. z o.o.
solutions in the controlling field allowed this bank Dr Walter Schmidt, Member of the ICV Executive
to carry the burden of the crisis despite going into Board, presented sample methods of an everyday
business at a very early stage of the crisis. liquidity analysis and modern budgeting methods
focusing on sales strengthening, wise analysis of
Mikołaj Woźniak, Director of the Controlling and the cost reduction and on innovation. The budget
Risk Management Department of Volkswagen sets out a certain framework of action for the com-
Bank Polska S.A., talked about two issues: pany in terms of reaching its objectives. It can
change along with the changing environment;
• How the current situation is modifying the however, it will not exceed the limits adopted, so
perception of the Risk Manager, recently that the goals assumed can be achieved. Control-
regarded as a “hindrance” to sales and today lers working in the environment of foreign ex-
referred to as the “voice of (sub)conscience” change fluctuations can sense very well that flex-
• How the controller becomes an internal adviser ible and multi-scenario planning of the financial
and a businessman in hard times. standing is necessary.
Przemysław Masłowski, the Financial Controller at
The shift in positioning finance staff members to- ZT KRUSZWICA S.A., is one of them. During his
wards business advisers who support the process presentation he showed a sample analysis of the
12 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
15. taglines of practicians
At the end of the congress the participants had the
unique opportunity to see and listen to the re-
transmission of a speech by Dr. Dr. h.c.
Albrecht Deyhle, Chairman of the Super-
visory Board of the Controller Akade-
mie AG and Founder of the ICV. Whi- TV session at the congress
foreign exchange exposure and solutions to the le talking about his 40 years of experience in in Poznań with Dr. Adrianna
Lewandowska
foreign exchange problem, which he encounters controlling, Dr. Deyhle pointed out the main
every day. aspects of the controller’s profession in an extraor-
The volatility of the controller’s working environ- dinarily spontaneous way.
ment, so peculiar to the current economic situation,
was also emphasized by Magdalena Swoboda, Despite the ‘stormy’ times, the congress certainly
the Financial Controller of KLIMA-THERM Sp. z o.o. brought many ‘sunny’ ideas that could be applied
The multi-scenario approach to the future planning by controllers in their everyday work. The whole
provides guarantees that the company will be rea- meeting was held in an excellent atmosphere with
dy for each and every case, this being quite diffi- valuable discussions, the continuation of which
Most of the polish work-
cult for companies dealing with public procure- can be expected already during next meetings of group leaders attended the
ment. Such problems are faced among others by the workgroups of the controlling practicians. congress in Poznań
Przedsiębiorstwo Dróg i Mostów SA (Roads and
Bridges Construction Company, a joint-stock com-
pany), which was represented at the Congress by
Dariusz Gulczyński, Director for Economic Affairs.
The years to come are going to emphasize the in-
creasing importance of the controllers’ skills in
terms of building the bridge between finance and
business, partnership and integration of particular
elements in the organization. Dr. Herwig R. Frie-
dag, head of the ICV PR Committee, presented
some guidelines on the subject, put in a systematic
order, including the Management 2.0 methodolo-
gy, which allows the controlling practicians to
build accountability systems for the continuous
company development.
13
16. Controlling careers
Czech Republic
in the Czech
Republic
Controlling is a standard position required in the structure of the financial
department of most medium-sized and larger companies and is filled across
all market sectors: sales companies, financial institutions, and production
companies. Controllers are clearly required in all types of business.
Candidates for the position of a controller in the The remaining requirements arise from the specific
Czech Republic are usually university-educated. aspect of the field in which each employer ope-
Most common is any faculty of VŠE (the University rates. In this regard we have noted, compared to
of Economics in Prague), and the Faculty of Opera- previous years, an increasing emphasis on so-
tions and Economics of the Czech Agricultural called soft skills – communication skills, presentati-
University, or other universities focused at least on skills, and team cooperation. These skills play
partially on economics. In certain cases, appli- an increasingly important role both in the require-
cants are graduates of the Czech Technical Univer- ments of our clients and in the selection of individu-
sity. For applicants with secondary-school educa- al job applicants.
tion, greater practical experience is generally ac- Given the increasing number of multinational com-
cepted as a sufficient foundation for working in panies operating in the Czech Republic over the
this position. There is no special institute in the last 19 years, the demands with respect to the in-
Czech Republic providing a controlling program, ternational experience of candidates have been
Tomáš Bergl, Manager but private institutions and training agencies offer increasing in practically all of the positions sought.
Robert Half Finance & specialized training courses.
Accounting, Czech Republic
The most common requirements for the position of Salaries and employee benefits
a controller include knowledge and experience in the industry
concerning comprehensive accounting matters,
several years of experience in controlling (depen- Robert Half carries out an annual survey of sala-
ding on the seniority of the position), knowledge of ries and employee benefits (Salary & Benefits
international accounting standards (IFRS) or – most Guide) in all of the sectors in which it specializes,
frequently – US GAAP, good English skills (and including finance and accounting. A financial con-
only occasionally another European language troller with 0–2 years of experience in the sector
such as German or French), a good knowledge of usually receives a gross monthly salary of CZK
MS Office Excel with knowledge of setting up for- 25,000–35,000, and with experience of 3–5 years
mulas and contingency tables, and the knowledge this range increases to CZK 35,000–60,000. If his
of an ERP system (SAP, Oracle). experience is five years and greater, the gross
monthly salary ranges from CZK 50,000–80,000.
14 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
17. In the case of a management position with respon- portance of “soft skills” is a clearly continuing
sibility for managing a large team, the salary trend. The importance of benefits is waning slight-
ranges up to CZK 130,000. These amounts do not ly, as work as such is more important at this point
include rewards and bonuses. for candidates, in combination with adequate fi-
nancial compensation.
The benefits and employee advantages in control- In concluding, I would like to point out the particu-
ling correspond, according to our survey, to the lar stability and immunity of financial positions on
middle-management group. The first five most the market during the present financial crisis, when
sought-after benefits include five weeks of vaca- the reduction of activities in the market is relatively
tion (the statutory allowance is four weeks), lan- reasonable compared to the pronounced drop in
guage courses paid by the employer, flexible work demand in other areas of the overall market.
hours, professional education, a 13th salary pay-
ment, and also, with increasing seniority, a compa-
ny car for private purposes. On the other hand, the Robert Half International
most frequently provided benefits include meal in the Czech Republic
tickets, mobile telephones, supplementary pension
insurance contributions, and refreshments at the Robert Half Finance & Accounting has operated in
workplace. the Czech Republic since 1994. We fill manage-
ment positions throughout the country. In this field,
we specialize primarily on financial management,
Current situation controlling, accounting, audit, and tax specialists,
the banking and insurance business, and on IFRS
In the last five years, salaries in the entire industry consulting and SOX projects.
grew at a relatively constant slow rate of approxi-
mately CZK 2,000–5,000 per year, which fully
corresponds to the careful and conservative nature
of the field of finance, compared with other areas
of the market, such as information technologies.
Benefits and employee advantages played a sig-
nificant role in those years in which we noted a
high demand for specialists and a significant lack
thereof (primarily 2007 and 2008), whereby com-
panies enhanced the attractiveness of the position
offered. An important specific aspect of this devel-
opment was the gradual increase in the importance
of the candidates’ “soft skills” compared to their
practical and professional knowledge – so-called
hard skills.
At the end of 2008, and especially at the begin-
ning of this year, there was a significant turnabout
in the thinking of companies on the Czech market.
They discontinued or slowed the hiring of new
employees and, as part of their preventive cost-
saving measures, reduced the current head-
count. The outcome is a partial reduction
in the number of offers in the sphere of
controlling, and a greater emphasis
on the quality of the selection pro-
cedures. Applicants are more
careful in changing and choos-
ing new positions. The im-
15
18. The theory and practice of
Russia
in conditions of crisis
In Kaliningrad (Russia) on 22–23 May 2009, the
2nd International scientific-practical conference on
problems of controlling in conditions of crisis took
place. The conference was organized by the Kali-
ningrad Club of Administrative and Financial Con-
trollers with the assistance of the Kaliningrad Inter-
national Business School, Russian Association of
Business Education and International Controller
Association ICV. There were about 60 representa-
tives of Russian companies from Kaliningrad,
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Kaluga, and
the ICV representatives from Germany, Lithuania,
Estonia, Poland and Russia were engaged as the • Uncertainty of key manager responsibility zones
speakers. • Absence of constant inner corporative training
processes
Herwig R. Friedag (Germany) opened the confe- • Absence of correlation between motivation
rence with the volumetric report on system ma- system and company goals.
nagement of business with usage of the Manage-
ment 2.0 model. The report was met with enthusi- The crisis tendencies have introduced corrective
asm by the participants of conference, as for many amendments to estimated parameter structures. So
Russian companies the absence of system manage- within the financial perspective framework, EBIT-
ment is one of the main reasons for low business DA was suggested instead of a net profit parame-
efficiency. ter. For client base quality monitoring quantity,
new and old clients in a sectional view of market
The Russian lecturers shared their experience of segments was offered. From the perspective of
different controlling tools used by the companies business processes for the definition of an optima-
with allowance for the crisis situation in the mar- lity of goods briefcase, the goods stock limits para-
ket. Uri Fedyashov (“Takt” group of companies – meters are recommended instead of turnover. The
construction and building materials production) customer’s service quality improvement has de-
reported on the practice of BSC building, which manded the introduction of a “percentage of fulfil-
works in the company to the full extent as the basis lment of delivery schedule” parameter. The use of
for the system management of business, by focus- the CRM system helps to identify, to differentiate
ing attention on representative and often admitted and to control relationships with the client on the
errors: basis of full automation with “1C Rarus CRM” pro-
gram usage.
• Absence of unified comprehension by the top Uri Nahodkin (President of “GMG – real estate”
and average managers of mission and strategy group) spoke about strategic controlling methods
of the company used in his companies and the advantages which
• Density on the financial indexations, instead of proprietors can benefit from with strategic control-
client perspective parameters (weak study of the ling availability: Transparency and controllability
marketing strategy, imperfect sales business of business. A prerogative of the shareholders is
process) the definition of the direction and purpose of com-
16 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
19. controlling The ICV conference
speakers had an excursion
to the Courland Spit.
pany development (“Which jungle are we in?”). On the part of the creditors is:
The strategic controlling levels were marked, the • “Each to their own”
approaches to the creation of strategic operations • Absence of transparency in relation to other
programs were considered, a system of motivation creditors
with usage of management by objectives and BSC • Effect of average general costs on the size
were discussed, and the company budgeting phi- of bank reserves
losophy was presented. • Difference in the approaches between Russian
and international banks
Alexander Lubinsky (“Holmrock” group of compa- • Preference to put aside the solution of problems Alexander Barinov,
nies – computer equipment supply) shared his ex- for the future. Rector of KIBS
perience in a field of development, introduction
and usage of CRM system in the company. The As the guidelines on optimization of tax payments
activity of project implementation processes has in a part of the profit tax, the following is offered:
been increased by the financial and economic cri- To make changes to amortization policy, to make
sis, which showed that the client is the main asset, an order in liabilities interest calculation, to use
a unique source of profit obtaining and further factoring, to integrate the profitable and unprofita-
company development. A low price, mass adverti- ble companies, and to create reserves on doubtful
sing and conventional marketing no longer gua- duties. With value-added tax, special attention is
rantee successful sales, even with a solvent buyers’ given to the control of the basic documents for
market in a phase of saturation. operating, obtaining of the right on “deduction”,
As a result of CRM system implementation, ma- capability of release from tax payment at a de-
nagement and staff finally gain a legible under- crease of sales up to 2 million rbl. per quarter, and
standing of client inquiries, which gives an indispu- minimization of tax at implementation of import Galina Usenkova,
table competitive advantage in conditions of fal- deliveries outside Russia. Secretary in charge, Club of
administrative and financial
ling demand.
controllers;
In conditions of decreasing demand and restricted The Western speakers (Slavimir Pieloch, Poland;
General Director “Audit
liquidity, many other methods are used alongside Aiste Loergen, Lithuania; Harald Kitzman, Estonia;
Service”
conventional controlling tools: Important restructu- Hans-Peter Sander, Germany) showed practical
ring of duties or percentage payments, sale of un- materials on controlling methods. The problems of
profitable assets, and company tax load control. budgeting system implementation, costs accoun-
The joint report of Anton Vaishnurs and Alexey ting, and controlling development tendencies in
Mel‘nikov (Deloitte & Touché, St. Petersburg) was the West were considered.
dedicated to these problems. The features of finan-
cial restructuring in Russia were classified. Conference participants gave positive feedback
on the presentation depth and practicality for the
On the part of the borrowers is: Russian companies in tackling their problems. Its
• Denying of financial problems important to say that the conference underlined a
• Reduction of a working capital for service of miscellaneous level of controlling development in
the debt, inefficient amortization policy Russia and European countries: If the Russian com-
• Absence of transparency in relation to the panies are still engaged in the search and primary
creditors introduction of controlling methods, European
• Absence of the coordinated negotiations companies are at a stage of tuning the set-up of
with banks these tools. This makes listening to one another all
• Focus on “soft” restructuring (“crisis – temporary the more interesting.
phenomenon and situation will change soon”)
• Hope for state support.
17
20. Hungary
“Navigating heavy seas
in the Carpathian Basin”
Are difficult times and stormy weather a good climate for controllers?
What contribution does controlling make to crisis management and company
survival? What is controlling like in practice here and now in Hungary?
The global financial crisis also hit Hungary at the Controlling in foreign group subsidiaries is to a
end of last year, rolling out the familiar effects. Ini- large extent shaped by the organization and
tially, companies in Hungary responded with the guidelines of the parent company’s group control-
classic instruments of drastic cost reductions, short ling department. That entails a strong dependency
time and, finally, job cuts. It was also typical that and little room for local initiative. Duties are mainly
many business plans drawn up for 2009 accord- focused on supplying data for group controlling in
ing to a traditional model became meaningless, as the course of operative and mediumterm plan-
the economic situation changed on a daily basis, ning, and for oper- ative, monthly report-
the future unpredictable and increasingly uncer- ing. The fate of Hungarian sub-
tain.
Against this backdrop, the situation of companies in
Hungary is developing very unevenly in the indi-
vidual sectors. Particularly affected is the produc-
tion industry that relies heavily on exports. It has
practically no liquidity reserves and is both ex-
tremely price and cost sensitive. Due to the popula-
tion’s loss of spending power, retailers are just as
hard hit by the financial crisis. Even huge discounts
fail to attract buyers because they simply have no
money. The services industry is affected insofar as
its contract risks have risen considerably and its
contracts and costs with companies subject to direct
impact at short notice, i.e. they can be curtailed.
The financial crisis has caused a mammoth upheav-
al in both companies and the market in Hungary.
Besides the risks, however this change dynamic has
created many new opportunities for new products,
services and business models with higher value cre-
ation, higher quality and long-term prospects in the
future. Nevertheless, this spells a huge challenge
and makes high demands of corporate manage-
ment, controlling and specialist departments.
18 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
21. sidiaries greatly depends on the weal and woe, In SMEs, where entrepreneurs and management
strategy and crisis management of the parent com- are characterized by entrepreneurial spirit, will
pany. and responsibility, controlling has now also as-
The situation is a bit different for controlling and sumed an important function in Hungarian compa-
management in Hungary’s foreign SMEs. Although nies, and the controller is an important dialogue
here, too, the strategy and crisis management of partner for management in strategic and business
the parent company is decisive, local management administration matters. The role of the controller as
has greater freedom to make decisions on the im- “navigator” even in turbulent times largely corre-
plementation of strategic provisions and crisis sponds to that in a Western European country.
management on the spot. Controlling is predomi- Duties cover supervising classic controlling proc-
nantly in the hands of the foreign parent company. esses like operative and mediumterm planning, re-
The procedures, methods and tools of head office porting, results and cost accounting, contribution
controlling are adapted for local use. margin accounting, and products and services
calculation.
Controllers, however, are also showing a growing
A new generation of controllers interest in learning about and applying proce-
dures, methods and tools. The aim being to im-
Central planning has a long tradition in large Hun- prove performance and cost efficiency, increase
garian companies. Although after the Peaceful the value creation component in the process chain
Revolution in Germany and in response to the com- and individual company functions, support the
petition of the emergent market economy, control- company’s strategy development and co-develop
ling functions did develop, from an organizational new innovative business models. A rising genera- Andreas Kovács
and operative point of view, these are mainly in- tion of controllers is learning how to master the Head of the ICV working
group Hungary 2;
corporated in the finance and accounting sectors. modern controlling method spectrum and can thus
Controlling activity is mainly restricted to opera- efficiently and competently support and assist Managing Director MCS
Management & Controlling-
tive and mediumterm business planning, supplying management and specialist departments in their
Service Vezetési Tanácsadó
data and reporting. activities. Controlling as a career springboard into Kft.
The situation of manage- management circles places these controllers in an
ment and controlling in excellent position to make better requirements of
Hungarian SMEs is far controlling later on from a managerial position, to
more positive. Hungarian promote and use it for themselves and the good of
SMEs, founded after the the company.
Peaceful Revolution, The qualification of controllers in Hungary, com-
that were successful in municating West European-style controlling is sup-
gaining a foothold in ported both at the universities and, intensively by
the domestic, regio- the controller academy of the IFUA, Horváth &
nal and international Partners. A brisk exchange of experiences be-
market, are more flexible tween controllers takes place on the platform of
at adapting themselves to the Hungarian controller association. The latter is
the fast moving, dy- backed by two active ICV working groups. These
namically changing hold two professionally demanding biannual work-
market and economic shops that enjoy a high level of interest and attend-
conditions. Fast reac- ance in an atmosphere of Hungarian conviviality
tions and adaptabil- and savoir-vivre.
ity in terms of prod- All this provides the best possible prerequisites for
ucts and ser vices in - developing controlling, even in Hungarian compa-
cre ase comp anies’ nies. Turning controllers into important, competent
chances of staying in and sought-after partners of management, with the
the running and sur- aim of jointly weathering out the financial crisis to
viving the financial leave it stronger than before, armed with new op-
crisis. portunities and prospects in the future.
19
22. Slovenia
It’s time to meet the
challenges of controlling!
We could read (bad) news about the financial situation in practically all the
newspapers. In Slovenia it is the same; the crisis hasn’t spared us either.
A few days ago it was reported on the news that presented problems will be created. And history
the crises was over. Despite that, we should not shows that some ideas are always very good (and
close our eyes to one fact: In June in Slovenia, a lot even before time), just because of the distress.
of people lost their jobs. Companies cut the ex-
penses and number of employees during the crisis. Of course, companies take great care of their
Alternatively, managers decide to cut working good name and the reputation of their products,
hours, from 40 to 36 a week or even to 32 hours but they act rationally in the matter of donation or
a week. sponsorship. Some companies invest even more
money than before in training. Above all, compa-
But the situation is not hopeless. After all, the nies pay attention to the base activities. They try to
economy has not stopped, just slowed down. Dif- learn more about their business processes and
ficult financial situations require more hard work to how to rationalize them. This crisis will not last for-
be done from all: Companies should try to find “re- ever; they try to learn and improve business in the
serves”, to cut down expenses, to intensify effi- meantime. Already-tested methods are “discov-
ciency and to adapt their offer; consumers should ered“ again (for example, Break Even Point, Target
think twice before buying things. Liquidity is a Costs, Key Performance Indicators, etc.). Innova-
huge problem; terms of payment extend to three tive companies invest in technologies and in
months on average. Entrepreneurs are angry: Pay- progress all the time, even now, during the less
ment discipline has reached the bottom. advantageous times. Some of them do not feel the
crisis: others are in a very bad situation.
Workers should work more for the same salary;
they should be more effective. But the knowledge More and more companies try to see an opportu-
of the employees is respected more. Managers nity in the crisis. In Slovenia, innovative companies
discover that the ideas and purposes of their em- can be even more innovative nowadays because
ployees are a great source of growth, develop- the regulation helps them, providing them with
ment and progress. Some economists even predict (state-subsidized) funds for equipment, projects or
that during the crisis new, innovative ideas for the new employees.
20 CONTROLLER Spezial | Controlling International
