The developing role of the financial controller

The role of the Financial Controller within business has not always been understood by others. While wanting to be a ‘business leader’ involved in driving the enterprise forward, the Financial Controller is in danger of being constrained by the changing regulatory and control environment, which demands, first and foremost, traditional accounting skills. This is a study into the work roles undertaken by Financial Controllers with the objective of establishing recent developments and the extent to which accountants are prepared for these roles by professional education. It also provides information on what they would like to be doing to add value to the business and the practical barriers that exist in meeting this goal. The research project uses surveys, interviews and an analysis of job advertisements for the Financial Controller role. The evidence from interviews reveals a strong feeling that they want to be performing more value-added business tasks, but are frustrated in this by constraints of time and the inadequacy of existing information technology systems. As far as the suitability of training and CPD is concerned, the survey reveals that this has helped them mainly in performing their traditional activities rather than the new tasks.