Well, I decided to come back with a few more definitions abut the finance controllers. For example, the free dictionary goes for the classical way: “The corporate manager responsible for the company’s accounting activities. Sometimes referred to as the comptroller (which means the same thing).” Well, yes, it is broad and narrow in the same time, something that executive recruiters tend to like. But is a controller just the accounting steward of the company.
Maybe in the past he/she was. The controller was the specially trained accounting marine who came in as an ex-internal auditor and started to dig around to find how the accounting processes can be fixed and upgraded with minimal costs.
But now the role has changed dramatically. So what is primarily a controller – a finance business partner, a gatekeeper, or a super-accountant? What do you think?