The financial controller has become an indispensable figure for any company. We explain why it is so important and what some of its essential functions are.
Traditionally, the financial controller is the person in charge of the financial control of a company or business. Its main functions are linked to the control and supervision of finances and, in short, it acts as a link between management and accounting of the company.
Despite this traditional definition, today the functions of a company's financial controller have broadened. This figure has become from working solely in the financial department to working in a global way.. As a result, his decisions have a decisive influence on the future of the company. This evolution has led him to be a promoter of change in any company, and a key element for adapting to new times and current needs.
This will provide meaningful and reliable information to the company and support its decision making in the right direction. The financial controller must know the most appropriate indicators and tools for the sector in which the company operates, and apply them wisely.
Another of the most important functions of the financial controller is the preparation of the annual budget and the company's strategic plan, which will be the pillars on which he/she will direct his/her activity throughout the year. In addition, he/she must prepare monthly and quarterly reports and coordinate internal audits.
He or she must coordinate and supervise the work of the staff under his or her responsibility as well as that of other related departments. In other words, the financial controller must also act as a leader in his or her particular area, which is why he or she must have the necessary skills to do so.
This report will become a basic document of the company's achievements and objectives. It will also be developed and implemented by the company's financial controller.
It shall analyse possible deviations and include them in its management control report. This report shall be addressed both to the company's management and to the different persons in charge of the company.
For example, he or she will be involved in the strategy for new products, investments or markets. His or her opinion will be decisive in the choice of one strategy or another, and he or she will be actively involved in the company's financial planning.
It will also need to manage possible crises in the company by monitoring them. This activity should not be limited to situations that have already occurred, but a contingency plan with the necessary economic and financial resources for each case should be in place.
This will help him or her to analyse potential impacts on the company and alert management to opportunities for improvement. In other words, one of its functions would lie in the fact that it has the ability to anticipate the trends that will set the way forward in the coming years, or even decades.
It will need to ensure that these objectives are correctly reflected in future budgets, and coordinate them efficiently so that they coincide with each other.
This will make him/her one of the company director's most trusted profiles. In addition, he/she will be in contact with all the departments of the company that affect the company's accounting, which gives him/her a global and unified vision of the company.
The figure of the controller will therefore always be linked to control and supervision, but also to the strategic decisions of the company. Therefore, their importance in the organisational chart is essential. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that, in order to perform these functions correctly, it is necessary for both the financial controller and the financial department as a whole to have the most appropriate tools for this purpose.
A good example of such a tool is Corporate, the solution of Edenred so that facilitates the payment and management of employees' corporate expenses. Its main advantages include the fact that it unifies and integrates all the information in one place. It adapts to both large companies and the self-employed. It allows the recovery of VAT on meals quickly and easily. It avoids having to keep paper tickets thanks to the digitalisation of the notes. And it allows direct online access to all company information, among many other benefits.
