Finance Controller - FMCG

A financial controller is a senior-level manager who oversees a business's day-to-day financial operations. Sometimes called the "company historian," financial controllers run the accounting function and are responsible for the company's books and records.

The role of the financial controller varies with the size of the business. Controllers in small companies, whether internal or contractors, are mostly involved in detailed accounting tasks that are beyond the skills of the company's bookkeepers. In midsize enterprises - where responsibilities are broadest - financial controller duties are likely to include project management, technology, insurance and compliance functions. In large enterprises, financial controllers work with chief financial officers (CFOs), chief accounting officers (CAOs), finance managers and treasurers to control the finance and administration function.

Key Takeaways :

- Financial controllers are senior managers who oversee a business's day-to-day financial operations.

- As the lead accountant in a company, financial controllers' education, experience and licensing are concentrated in finance, accounting or economics.

- Most of a controller's time is spent on traditional duties such as closing the books and regulatory compliance, balanced by supporting company strategy, together with the CFO.

- Staying current on finance technology helps a controller be successful.

Understanding Financial Controllers

- In the simplest terms, financial controllers are senior managers charged with producing accurate books and records for a company. To do this, they must understand the operations of the business and the underlying relationships between inputs, outputs and the processes that support them. A financial controller's role begins with being "the numbers person" and extends to creating reports and analyses that support strategic business decisions.

- A financial controller's mindset is geared toward accuracy, stewardship, policy and ethics. Sometimes, it's a thankless job. More often, controllers derive extreme satisfaction from developing the data that guides strategic decision-making - despite feeling challenged by a lack of resources. A recent Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) study highlights an associated gap: Financial controllers feel they spend too much of their time on stewardship at the expense of strategy.

Why Are Financial Controllers Important?

- Financial controllership is a highly technical role; practitioners need to be both experts in all matters of accounting and compliance and relatable leaders who makes the entire organization want to follow policies and procedures.

- It's this combination of hard and soft skills that make financial controllers so important to businesses.

- A high level of pride-of-ownership in the accuracy and timeliness of the company's books, combined with four-star ethics, are necessary characteristics of successful controllers. In other words, it's important to successful controllers that their resultant financial data be right - and they'll stop at nothing to make it so - because it must be trusted by senior executives. Critical business decisions will be based on it.