RESEARCHING THE ROLE AND DEVELEOPMENT PERSPECTIVE OF A CONTROLLER AS A BUSINESS PARTNER OF MANAGEMENT

Megatrends such as increasing business complexity and volatility, internationalization and greater demand for transparency, have caused changes in management expectations of controller’s roles. A significant number of existing studies had emphasized the changes towards a more proactive role of a controller as an equal business partner in managerial strategic decision-making process. The stated trend was intensified by the development of digitalization and IT solutions, which will enable additional value, and unburden controllers from routine tasks. Such development should accordingly create a new role for controllers. So far, the use of a new controller’s role in business practice is inadequately researched, along with the implications of consequences for controllers, which should simultaneously cooperate with and correct the management. This paper explores the development perspective of a controller as a business partner. Accordingly, empirical research of controller’s roles was conducted in Croatian based firms, with an aim to discover which roles controllers predominantly take on, and whether they are moving in the direction of a more proactive future roles.