At a glance
- targeted management of business processes
- strategic and operational controlling are closely interlinked and influence each other
- controlling cycle consisting of planning, execution, control, and management
What would you like to know about Controlling?
Your input is sent to an AI service to answer it and is stored to improve the answers. Please do not enter any personal data. Privacy policy
Definition of controlling
Controlling encompasses all information, planning, analysis, and reporting processes within a company that are geared toward goal-oriented management. Originally developed in business practice and subsequently refined as an academic discipline, controlling is not limited to control in the sense of monitoring. Rather, it provides a system for ensuring the economic rationality and efficiency of business decisions.
At its core, controlling provides decision-relevant information – particularly from internal accounting, such as costs and output – to support management in planning, implementing, and monitoring strategic and operational objectives. In this sense, controlling helps make the pursuit of corporate objectives systematic, transparent, and effective, making it a key function for sustainable business success.
„Since we started preparing our monthly closings with DeltaMaster, we identify variances between plan and actual significantly earlier. We spend less time on data maintenance and more on the actual analysis.“Head of Controlling
Industrial company
What is the difference between operational and strategic controlling?
Operational and strategic controlling are closely interconnected, but differ primarily in their time horizons and objectives.
- Strategic controlling focuses on positioning the company for future developments. Its focus is on analyzing markets, competitors, and societal trends, as well as identifying opportunities and risks that may affect the company’s long-term success or survival. The aim is to secure sustainable competitive advantages and provide a sound basis for strategic decision-making. Various methods and tools are used for this purpose, including SWOT analyses, portfolio analyses, and competitive comparisons. Strategic controlling is strongly future-oriented and provides impetus for new business models, markets, or strategic realignments.
- Operational controlling, by contrast, focuses more strongly on figures, data, and facts. It is primarily based on information from internal accounting and serves the short- to medium-term planning, management, and monitoring of business operations. Key aspects include profitability, liquidity, cost control, and efficiency. The aim is to optimize ongoing business processes economically and translate the objectives defined by strategic controlling into concrete, measurable results. Typical operational controlling tools and methods include budget planning, plan-versus-actual comparisons, variance analyses, and ongoing reporting.
Comparison
| Feature | Strategic controlling | Operational controlling |
|---|---|---|
| Time horizon | Long term (3–5 years) | Short to medium term (up to 24 months) |
| Focus | Opportunities, risks, competition, market | Costs, earnings, liquidity, efficiency |
| Objective | Competitiveness and long-term viability | Economic efficiency and target achievement |
| Typical tools | SWOT analysis, portfolio analysis, scenario planning | Budgeting, variance analysis, KPI reporting |
Ultimately, the two approaches to controlling are closely interlinked: strategic objectives must be implemented operationally, while operational results provide important insights for strategic development. This close integration enables companies to make well-founded decisions on an ongoing basis.
Trusted by market leaders and hidden champions
What does controlling involve? – Controlling tasks in a company
Controlling plays a central role in planning, managing, and monitoring business processes. Typical controlling tasks range from strategic planning to operational monitoring, including:
- Planning: Developing integrated planning processes for areas such as sales, production, human resources, investments, and finance – both strategically (3–5 years) and operationally (12–24 months).
- Budgeting: Deriving specific budgets from approved plans and allocating them to cost centers to ensure that funds are used in line with objectives.
- Management consulting: Controllers act as internal business advisors and support decision-making with well-founded analyses.
- Monitoring and managing target achievement: Conducting regular variance analyses and deriving specific measures to ensure that targets are met.
- Reporting: Preparing reports, KPI analyses, and dashboards for management, for example using Balanced Scorecards.
- Process optimization: Identifying and analyzing business processes provides a basis for decisions aimed at identifying opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce overhead costs.
- Decision support: Providing a basis for operational and strategic decisions, for example through investment calculations, liquidity planning, and make-or-buy analyses.
What are KPIs in controlling? – Key performance indicators in financial controlling
The most important key performance indicators used in controlling vary depending on a company’s objectives. However, there are several key indicators that are relevant in almost every company. In financial controlling, indicators that provide insights into profitability, efficiency, and business growth play a particularly important role. Examples include:
| Key performance indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Revenue growth | Indicates the percentage by which revenue has increased compared with the previous year |
| Net profit margin | Measures the company’s profit as a percentage after deducting all overhead costs |
| ROI (Return on Investment) | Assesses the profitability of an investment based on the profit generated relative to the capital invested |
| Cash flow | Indicates liquidity and financial stability |
| Contribution margin | Indicates the share of revenue that a product or service contributes toward covering costs |
| Break-even point | The point at which revenue first covers costs |
What is the difference between accounting and controlling?
Accounting and controlling are not the same. The two concepts are closely related, but pursue different objectives and perform different functions within a company.
| Feature | Accounting | Controlling |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Retrospective | Future-oriented |
| Purpose | Documentation, financial statements, tax compliance | Analysis, planning, management |
| Data basis | Past financial transactions | Internal and external management metrics |
| Audience | External stakeholders (tax authorities, investors) | Internal management |
- Accounting focuses primarily on recording, documenting, and preparing all financial business transactions. It provides the basis for financial statements, tax returns, and statutory reporting requirements – in short, it provides historical, legally relevant financial data.
- Controlling, by contrast, uses accounting data but goes a step further: it analyzes, interprets, and evaluates information in order to plan future developments, support strategic decisions, and actively manage the company. While accounting is therefore retrospective, controlling is future-oriented and serves as a basis for business activities.
The two functions complement each other: accounting provides historical data, while controlling interprets and supplements this information and uses it to derive forward-looking measures.
What approach does controlling follow? – The controlling cycle
The controlling cycle – also known as the controlling control loop – is a central concept in modern corporate controlling. It describes a continuous process that ensures corporate goals are achieved efficiently. The cycle typically consists of the following phases:
- Planning: Setting strategic and operational goals as well as the corresponding measures for achieving the goals.
- Execution: Collecting, processing, and communicating relevant data to support decisions and ensure the flow of information.
- Control: Systematic comparison between planned target values and actual values to monitor the degree of goal achievement.
- Management and feedback: Adjusting measures, optimizing processes, and feeding the results back into the next planning phase.
Controlling processes are especially efficient when they are carried out with suitable controlling software. For example, the business intelligence tool DeltaMaster enables BI-supported controlling for seamless analysis, planning, and reporting of key figures across all departments – from accounting, through marketing and sales, all the way to logistics.
Use cases: where is controlling applied?
Controlling supports management tasks in almost all areas of a company. The following examples show typical fields of application in practice.
Where would you like to advance your controlling?
Your input is sent to an AI service to answer it and is stored to improve the answers. Please do not enter any personal data. Privacy policy
Practical example: controlling with DeltaMaster
A mid-sized industrial company with several business units faces a typical controlling challenge: month-end closing takes too long, variances are identified too late, and reports are manually compiled in Excel – with a correspondingly high risk of errors.
With DeltaMaster from Bissantz, this process can be fundamentally transformed. The platform automatically integrates data from ERP and source systems, calculates key performance indicators consistently based on a standardized logic, and immediately visualizes variances between plan, forecast, and actuals – in graphical tables with embedded sparklines that make trends immediately visible.
The controller no longer has to search for the relevant information: DeltaMaster automatically highlights critical variances, formulates them in natural language on request, and suggests possible courses of action. The result: shorter reporting cycles, higher analytical quality, and more time for what controlling is actually meant to provide – well-founded decision support instead of manual data maintenance.
| Function | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Automatic data integration | Data from ERP and upstream systems comes together without manual preparation |
| Consistent KPI logic | KPIs are calculated uniformly and remain comparable |
| Graphical tables with sparklines | Plan-forecast-actual variances and trends are recognizable at a glance |
| Automatic variance highlighting | Critical variances are identified and explained in natural language |
| Recommended actions | DeltaMaster suggests concrete action options to support decision-making |
„DeltaMaster automatically highlights critical key figures, so we can provide management with reliable decision support more quickly. As a result, our reporting cycles have become noticeably shorter.“BI Manager
Retail company
Frequently asked questions
What is controlling in simple terms?
Controlling is a company’s navigation system: it provides the information executives need to set objectives, stay on course, and take corrective action when deviations occur. It is not control in the sense of monitoring, but management in the sense of providing direction.
Is controlling the same as financial accounting?
No. Accounting documents what has happened – accurately from a legal perspective and with an external focus. Controlling analyzes what has happened in order to manage what comes next – internally and with a focus on decision-making. The two functions depend on each other but are fundamentally different.
Do only large companies need controlling?
No. Small and medium-sized companies can also benefit from structured controlling – often particularly so because resources are more limited and poor decisions can have a greater impact. The scope scales with the size of the company, but the principle remains the same.
How is AI changing controlling?
AI is increasingly taking over repetitive tasks such as data aggregation, anomaly detection, and report commentary, creating more capacity for tasks that require human judgment: interpretation, contextualization, and strategic recommendations. Controlling is therefore not becoming obsolete; instead, it is becoming more demanding and more value-adding.
What is meant by the controlling cycle?
The controlling cycle describes the continuous process of planning, execution, control, and management. It ensures that objectives are not merely set but also systematically pursued, reviewed, and adjusted.
How does DeltaMaster support controlling?
DeltaMaster automates the entire controlling process, from data integration and KPI calculation and planning through to report generation. Variances are automatically detected and highlighted, while AI-supported functions provide explanations and recommendations for action – enabling faster, better-informed decisions.
Summary
Controlling is the backbone of modern business management: it combines planning, analysis, and reporting into a closed management cycle and provides the information on which well-founded decisions are based. Strategic and operational controlling are closely interlinked: objectives are set, pursued, measured, and adjusted. With DeltaMaster, Bissantz makes this process more efficient, transparent, and AI-supported – automated, integrated, and decision-oriented.
Related topics
Make controlling more efficient with Bissantz
Less effort for analysis, planning, and reporting: With Bissantz, you can gain reliable insights more quickly, identify the need for action early on, and support management with well-founded decision-making documents.
Controlling software: from date to decision templates