What is controlling?
Controlling combines analysis, planning, and reporting into an integrated management tool that helps companies achieve their objectives, optimize processes, and make informed decisions. It is far more than control in the literal sense: controlling provides the information base that enables management and executives to make economically rational decisions.
| Feature | Details |
| Category | Business management / financial management / management accounting |
| Application | Planning, analysis, reporting, and the management of business processes and objectives |
| Typical areas of application | Financial controlling, sales controlling, production controlling, HR controlling, project controlling |
| Related terms | KPI, budgeting, variance analysis, forecasting, Business Intelligence, integrated planning |
| Benefits | Informed decision-making, transparency regarding target achievement, increased efficiency, early warning of variances |
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
Table of contents
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.
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.
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 loop – is a central concept in modern business controlling. It describes a continuous process designed to ensure that business objectives are achieved efficiently. The cycle typically consists of the following phases:
Planning: Defining strategic and operational objectives and the corresponding measures required to achieve them.
Execution: Collecting, preparing, and communicating relevant data to support decision-making and ensure the flow of information.
Control: Systematically comparing planned target values with actual values to monitor the degree of target achievement.
Management and feedback: Adjusting measures, optimizing processes, and feeding the results back into the next planning phase.
Controlling processes are particularly efficient when carried out with suitable controlling software. For example, the Business Intelligence tool DeltaMaster enables BI-supported controlling with seamless analysis, planning, and reporting of key performance indicators across all business functions – from accounting and marketing and sales to logistics.
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.
FAQ – frequently asked questions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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