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Working closer with operational staff when companies experience growth and more
forecasting and reforecasting in listed companies
The activities of management controllers depend on the companies
’
economic performance.
Management control is different in companies experiencing growth compared to companies that are declining or
remaining stable.
In expanding companies, controllers will spend more time working with operational staff (+2 pts than in other types of
companies), and do more variance analysis, work with IT, and internal auditing (+1 pt).
In contrast, in declining companies or those with zero growth, controllers will spend more time forecasting and
reforecasting (+2 pts than in a growing environment) and doing business reviews (+1 pt).
The time spent on reporting and budget planning does not seem to relate to
the ĐoŵpaŶies’ eĐoŶoŵiĐ peƌfoƌŵaŶĐe
.
This analysis tends to confirm that in case of decline or of zero growth, controllers are more involved in short-term
activities requiring frequent reforecasting and regular business reviews, whereas in a context of growth, they can
spend time developing their function through working with operational staff, IT projects, or internal control activities.
This analysis also confirms the significance of reforecasting in a difficult context, in order to anticipate gaps and
determine corrective plans for management to reduce or eliminate them.
The activities of management controllers depend on the status of companies (listed or not)
The time spent on forecasting/reforecasting is slightly more important (+1 pt) in a listed company. Conversely, the
time spent on planning and budgeting is significantly less important (-4 pt) in a listed company. The difference is
probably due to the development of rolling forecasts in listed companies that tend to take over from traditional plans
and budgets.
The higher complexity existing in listed companies certainly explains why more time is allocated to IT projects (+1 pt).
Collaboration time with operational staff is also higher in listed companies (almost +1 pt). Reporting and business
reviews take up the same amount of time in listed and unlisted companies.
Finally, the time spent on gap analysis and internal auditing is slightly less important (- 1 pt) in listed companies.
Reporting is more automated, operational staff are perhaps more autonomous in gap analysis since there is increased
collaboration, and internal auditing is often dealt with by a fully dedicated team in listed companies.
Management controllers are always highly involved
More than 7 times out of 10, management controllers are involved in economic studies, cash forecasting, and project
management control. Although the 2014 trends are more or less confirmed in 2015, a significant change has taken
place in favor of cash forecasting, particularly in those companies with decreasing revenue in 2015. Nonetheless,
controllers are less involved in these activities as the size of the companies grows; activity specialization has an impact
on the number of different activities controllers are involved in.
IAFEI Quarterly | Special Issue | 15